Oh man, the level to which people in Chicago proper get pissed at people who refer to very nearby suburbs as Chicago cracks me up too. Unless you live in the densest parts of downtown, living in the vast majority of Chicago is no different than living in the nearest suburb. It's all spread out houses, car culture galore, it's the same damn thing with no boundary. I grew up in a suburb from which Chicago was the first city you hit when walking directly North, West, East, it South, and you could not be more correct