depending on who you talk to, the 'windy city" nickname comes from the city's windbag politicians & boosters of yore. if you go by actual weather records, chicago is not significantly more or less windy than other major cities around the country. a 12mph headwind is really just a minor annoyance, hence my "more curse than blessing" comment. the bad days are when the gales are gusting at me off the lake at 40+mph. those are the days when i outright curse the wind.