You must not have lived there long if you don't know the origins of the nickname 'the mistake on the lake'. Cleveland is named for Moses Cleaveland. (Note spelling of surname.) So the original mistake on the lake was the spelling of the name of the city.
The city lived up to its name, however, in the 60s and 70s with a series of bad mayors (see Carl Stokes and Dennis Kucinich.)
Of course I know. Born and raised here. That’s why I said it’s not a mistake. Interestingly enough, the guy who started much of the humor about Cleveland was a native of Cleveland and is now a mentally ill, drug-addicted, homeless man. He just came back to Cleveland and people HERE are taking care of him. He was some big shot in the 60’s and wrote for all the big comedy shows (e.g. Get Smart).
Sad to know it was one of our own. I resent the insults since I have traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and to many other countries. We have our problems, for sure, but for the most part the people here are great. I find East Coasters to be snobs and a lot of West Coasters to be total kooks.....
Just my 2 cents.