# Connecticut has nor coastline - really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786 "2011-05-13T15:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/41 "2011-05-14T02:19:51Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Because the Gulf of Mexico is part of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not a separate body of water. This is nonsense unless you can offer a _geological_, not lexical, reason why the relationship between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean is meaningfully different from the relationship between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/42 "2011-05-14T02:33:43Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This is nonsense unless you can offer a _geological_, not lexical, reason why the relationship between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean is meaningfully different from the relationship between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Geologically, the Gulf of Mexico is on the Norfth American Plate, but the Caribbean Sea is on its own small plate, intruded between the North American and South American plates. The logic to this peculiar statement which the OP asks about, so far as I’m able to grasp it, is that the “coast line” jumps across from Rhode Island to the tip of Long Island, treating Long Island Sound like a river estuary or Delaware or Chesapeake Bays. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/43 "2011-05-14T02:46:33Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Geologically, the Gulf of Mexico is on the Norfth American Plate, but the Caribbean Sea is on its own small plate, intruded between the North American and South American plates. I’ve never heard of defining the boundaries of bodies of water according to what geological plate is underneath. Does it have any effect on the actual physical properties of the body of water above? > [@](#): > > The logic to this peculiar statement which the OP asks about, so far as I’m able to grasp it, is that the “coast line” jumps across from Rhode Island to the tip of Long Island, treating Long Island Sound like a river estuary or Delaware or Chesapeake Bays. That makes it sound like it’s merely an issue of units of measure. So, as asked above, do the Mediterranean countries not have coasts? ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/44 "2011-05-14T03:24:04Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m confused by your use of “but.” you didn’t contradict anything I said. I wasn’t contradicting, what you said, I was extending it. Like you, I don’t see how Long Island Sound different from the Gulf except in size. Heck, I don’t see how it is any different from neighboring Block Island Sound or Buzzard’s Bay, Vineyard Sound, and Nantucket Sound further east. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/45 "2011-05-14T03:27:59Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’ve never heard of defining the boundaries of bodies of water according to what geological plate is underneath. Does it have any effect on the actual physical properties of the body of water above? You’d asked about geology, so I provided what useful data I could. AFAIK the only real influence of plates is in questions of depth and seabottom topography (trenches and rises, or level plains?) and their influence on water surface conditions. > [@](#): > > That makes it sound like it’s merely an issue of units of measure. So, as asked above, do the Mediterranean countries not have coasts? Italy, Greece, Croatia, Libya, etc., do not have Atlantic Ocean coastline, the Mediterranean being regarded as a distinct body of water (which in fact it is, being along with the Black Sea the last remnants of the Iapetus Ocean of Mesozoic times). I completely agree that it’s pretty much arbitrary where one makes those leaps to say “this embayment counts as coastline, this one does not.” I simply tried to identify what rationale might be used to say that Connecticut has no ocean coast. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/46 "2011-05-14T04:21:19Z")
Rhode Island is the Ocean State. Massachusetts is the Bay State. Take a look at the maps and explain that one. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/47 "2011-05-14T04:34:49Z")
Darn. I liked having a coast. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/48 "2011-05-14T04:48:07Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > You’d asked about geology, so I provided what useful data I could. AFAIK the only real influence of plates is in questions of depth and seabottom topography (trenches and rises, or level plains?) and their influence on water surface conditions. I suppose I should have said oceanographic. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/49 "2011-05-14T13:52:20Z")
Ok, let’s do it with Canada: Provinces and territories with Coastline British Columbia (Pacific) Yukon (Arctic) Northwest Territories (Arctic) Nunavut (Arctic) Nova Scotia (Atlantic) Newfoundland and Labrador (Atlantic) Shoreline, but no coast: Manitoba (Hudson Bay) Ontario (Hudson Bay, several Great Lakes) Quebec (Hudson Bay, Ungava Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence) New Brunswick (Bay of Fundy, Gulf of St. Lawrence) Prince Edward Island (Gulf of St. Lawrence) No shoreline at all: Alberta Saskatchewan ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/50 "2011-05-14T14:32:34Z")
I don’t think it’s to do with Long Island Sound being classed as an estuary. As per Wikipedia, I think the “technicality” is based on the fact that Connecticut is cut off from the open ocean by New York - see the map [here](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.261944,-72.007222&ie=UTF8&ll=41.085562,-72.680054&spn=1.086823,2.757568&z=9). New York state extends “offshore” from the CT coast so that there is a tripoint with Rhode Island. A small portion of RI territorial waters completes the “cutoff”. In other words, because NY has a border with RI, CT cannot have a border with the ocean (the four-colour map theorem…) So basically, you can’t get from CT to the open Atlantic without passing through either NY or RI. I agree that this is a stupid distinction though, and I would say it has a sea coast. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/51 "2011-05-14T16:13:24Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This is nonsense unless you can offer a _geological_, not lexical, reason why the relationship between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean is meaningfully different from the relationship between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. In this context the issue is not geology, but geography. You need a geographical reason, not a lexical reason, and not a geological reason. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/52 "2011-05-14T16:24:06Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > In this context the issue is not geology, but geography. You need a geographical reason, not a lexical reason, and not a geological reason. As I said in my previous post, the geographic reason is that New York and Rhode Island form a contiguous barrier cutting off Connecticut from the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/53 "2011-05-14T16:35:00Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > “Lame, and pedantic to a fault” describes most UK knowledge-based game shows. You will be able to support this? I’ll give you “lame”, but am intrigued about “pedantic to a fault”. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/54 "2011-05-14T16:40:49Z")
Hint: QI isn’t the entirety of UK knowledge-based game shows ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/55 "2011-05-14T20:53:52Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > As I said in my previous post, the geographic reason is that New York and Rhode Island form a contiguous barrier cutting off Connecticut from the ocean. I’ve long advocated for the annexation of RI by Connecticut. All the more reason now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/56 "2011-05-15T01:08:12Z")
Hold on a sec – Annexing RI means we not only get Newport, Brown, and Federal Hill, we also get the Patriarcas and Ciancis. That doesn’t sound like such a deal to me. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/57 "2011-05-15T01:31:45Z")
But if Rhode Island is annexed, all those size comparisons (be it for icebergs, asteroids or Hollywood egos) of “this is X times bigger than Rhode Island” won’t have quite the same oomph. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/58 "2011-05-15T08:35:35Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Hint: QI isn’t the entirety of UK knowledge-based game shows What has QI got to do with this discussion? ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/59 "2011-05-15T12:10:41Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I’ve long advocated for the annexation of RI by Connecticut. All the more reason now. > > 😃 If ever there was a case for “be careful what you wish for, you might get it,” that is it. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786/60 "2011-05-15T12:52:15Z")
> [@KCB615](#): > > If ever there was a case for “be careful what you wish for, you might get it,” that is it. That’s true… but we could use a great big parking lot… 🙂 Sorry! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/connecticut-has-nor-coastline-really/581786.md?page=4)