# CA residents - Do you ever refer to the state you live in as "Cali"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648 "2012-07-08T23:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/61 "2012-07-11T21:12:25Z")
I have lived in California (both N and S) most of my life, now in the Sacramento area. I have never heard any resident, north or south, refer to it as “Cali”. It sounds like something out-of-staters would say. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/62 "2012-07-11T21:38:21Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Non-Californian here wondering why people _don’t_ use it. It’s quick, it’s clean, it’s intuitive…what’s not to like? It sounds like the name of a toy poodle. . . the kind with painted nails. Born in California. I had never heard the term until my kids (in their 30s) started using it. Now that I’ve read this thread, I think it started when the middle one moved to Denver a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/63 "2012-07-11T23:19:47Z")
Nope. I have told people I live in SoCal though. It’s a large state, it helps to give a little more description to which part of the state you are going to (or live in). I think a better Poll would be how many Californian posters here refer to Northern California as “NorCal” or “NoCal”…it would probably show us who among us are NoCal \ and SoCal posters. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/64 "2012-07-11T23:55:45Z")
SoCal here, and I have texted that, too. Never said it, though. Actually, usually I text ‘So-SoCal’, since any further south and it’d be Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/65 "2012-07-12T00:02:04Z")
> [@UncaStuart](#): > > Ah, _hell_ no. Shouldn’t that be “hella no?” ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/66 "2012-07-12T00:22:12Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “hella no?” That reminds me of [the petition to make **hella-** the official metric previx for 10X27.](http://www.makehellaofficial.blogspot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/67 "2012-07-12T17:29:03Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > SoCal here, and I have texted that, too. Never said it, though. Actually, usually I text ‘So-SoCal’, since any further south and it’d be Mexico. I have even heard the San Diego area called LoCal. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/68 "2012-07-12T17:36:56Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I may have called it “Cali” a time or two, but that didn’t happen until after I’d moved away. But if I said I was going to Cali, I would mean Frisco or someplace other than where I lived (southern California). And yeah, I know “Frisco” annoys the people who live there. They feel the same annoyance people from San Diego feel when someone speaks of Dago (A slang for San Diego) ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648/69 "2012-07-12T17:54:06Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > We have a friend from NJ coming to visit, and she keeps referring to her “trip to Cali”. I find the term a bit grating, the kind of thing you only hear in rap music. I never hear people who live here call CA “Cali” but that might just be me and my particular work/social community. > > So if you live in California, do you ever refer to your state as “Cali” in normal conversation? I am a native but I live in AZ now. I have never referred to California as Cali. Neither has any of my family or friends. I left California when I was 35, but I visit numerous times a year [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-residents-do-you-ever-refer-to-the-state-you-live-in-as-cali/627648.md?page=3)