To me, the Eastern Shore always meant the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay (I live in Maryland near D.C.). A few days ago my s.o. says “let’s go to the Eastern Shore for a few days.” I said okay, thinking we’re going to one of the islands - Kent, St. Michael’s, Tilghman, etc., or to Chestertown on the mainland (on the Chester River which empties into the Bay). Further conversation revealed he’s talking about Ocean City, Md. – on the Atlantic Coast. This is not the eastern shore of anything. Has “Eastern Shore” come to mean all of Maryland on the other side of the bay (and Virginia? the entire Delmarva peninsula?) If not, then to what does it refer? The islands? certain towns on/near the bay? Or am I being too literal about the whole thing?
I’ve heard that term used to describe the whole stretch down through Virginia.
For national, U.S. geography, the Eastern Shore is the ocean beachfront from the southern tip of FL all the way up to the northern shoreline of ME. IOW, it’s the oceanfront of the Eastern U.S., Eastern States, or Eastern Seaboard.
Now, that doesn’t preclude local prejudices from using that same term for their local bodies of water. In Canada, Eastern Shore might mean Quebec or New Foundland or the Maritime Provinces. In Mexico, it could mean the Yucatan or Cancun. I’m sure it has particular meanings for the people who live by one of the Great Lakes.
Peace.
Sounds like moriah is making things up as he goes again.
I’ve never heard the ‘Eastern Seaboard’ referred to as the ‘Eastern Shore’. Of course, I don’t live there, but rather, in California. A seaboard is an edge of land that borders on a sea/ocean/bay, whatever. A shore is an edge of a body of water. People usually don’t interchange these terms – that I ever hear anyhow. Thus in generic terms, the author of the OP has a right to object to 'Eastern Shore’s referring to any part of the oceanfront along the Eastern Seaboard.
The land area along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, where I live, Berkeley, CA-US, is referred to as the East Bay. Often this term is extended to include suburban areas across the Berkeley-Oakland Hills and up to some 50 miles east of the Bay, but there is no second shore out there, of course – only on the N, where there is the south shore of Carquinez Strait, which forms the outlet of the inland delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. San Francisco and San Mateo County are sometimes referred to as the West Bay, but not often. They form the San Francisco Peninsula.
East is east and west is west. . .and never should the twain get off the twack.
Ray
I’ve been in this area all my life, and “Eastern Shore” is a common term used (I thought) to refer to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, the islands near that shore, and mainland towns near that shore. I think a lot of people who aren’t from this area and haven’t grown up with the term don’t know any better and it’s now being used to refer to any place east of the Chesapeake Bay, including Virginia and Delaware. I just wondered if there were any other posters from this area (or better yet, the Eastern Shore) who could set me straight before I attempt to
argue the point with anybody.
Ray/Nano
Funny, Sycorax says a friend refers to a section of the Eastern Seaboard (Ocean City, MD) as the Eastern Shore, and when I back that up as plausible and within my experience of terminology out here, living by the Eastern Seaboard myself, you say that I’m making things up.
Do you think Sycorax’s friend is also making things up?
Thank-you for demonstrating so clearly what I referred to as ‘local prejudices.’
BTW, it is not uncommon for people living near the Eastern Seaboard to use the term ‘shore’ exclusively for the sea shore or the ocean front or the entire string of communities located on or near the shore. Any other bay, lake, or river front property is specifically identified as bay shore, lake shore, or river front. ‘Shore’ means ocean waves here. No one in NJ, even if they were living on a lake or in Trenton (on the Delaware River) or on the Delaware Bay would use ‘shore’ to mean anything but the ocean beach.
Your local use may vary.
And no, Ray, I’m not making this up, either. Would you like a list of New Jerseyans to call to verify this? How about a picture of U.S. Intersate signs in NJ that say “Shore Points”? How about an affidavit from some trustworthy medical doctors?
http://www.virtualnjshore.com/
http://www.jersey-shore.com/
Peace.
I think the definition of “shore” varies regionally. Radically. As an Oregonian, I live on the eastern shore of the Pacific. Virginians likewise live on the western shore of the Atlantic. So, in the context the original question was asked, eastern shore would refer to the shoreline extending from the northernmost part of Norway down to the rock of Gibraltar, and also the west coast of Africa.
I don’t have any real problems with the Easterners’ use of “shore”, but it does seem pretty superfluous. Seaboard, coast, and beach could all be used in that role. What would an Easterner use to call the border of a body of water, as distinct from the border of a landmass? Bank? Margin?
I’ve always heard “Eastern Shore” as being the entire Delmarva Peninsula.
I live in the Midwest but will jump in and agree with Sycorax and NanoByte, etcetera, that the modern (and I do not believe that it isn’t just recent) use of Eastern Shore to mean Eastern Seaboard is thanks to ignorance. It’s yet another case of a useful term (Eastern Shore) being applied to something else, which already has a perfectly good name (Eastern Seaboard), thereby muddying the waters we call our language. Yes, ignoramuses have the right to make things up but the rest of us have the duty to fight back.
It seems to me, that discussing a localize geographic term from outside the area doesn’t work very well. People in the general area seem to stake a claim on the term as being very specific, while outside the area, people tend to use the term more generally. As, their Eastern Shore is "The" Eastern Shore and their *Delta * is ***“The” Delta ***. Since I think Jill is kinda cool, I won’t give the link to the Delta thing. So, I think you can define things any way you want based on the meaning of the words and it won’t have anything to do with the confusion of someone that lives there and knows exactly what it’s suppose to mean. It’s just not what they’re talking about.
I’m with AWB on this one. I grew up virtually in the shadow of the Bay Bridge, on the western side in the 70’s and 80’s. Well OK, I didn’t, but I got older there and I’ll grow up when I feel like it.
I’ve always thought of “the Eastern Shore” as the entire Delmarva peninsula; that which is east of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. I think it’s kind of a parochial regionalism in the sense that once you cross the bridge, you have gone to the eastern shore, and going further on 301 doesn’t change anything.
But thinking back, I don’t remember referring to the Eastern Shore when it was time to go to OC or Bethany. That was always Danny Ocean. As in, “C’mon, hun, let’s go danny ocean.”
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
You chastise people for vague naming of regions and you proudly proclaim that you’re from the Midwest? Pray tell, what exactly is the Midwest made of? Where is the Mideast? Where is the Midmiddle (or just plain ‘Middle’)? The West?
Go ahead, answer these questions, and I’ll demonstrate how illogical they are.
Sheesh, talk about ignorance.
I don’t think we’re disagreeing here – As I understand it, Moriah is simply saying that the locals may be using terms that people from other areas interpret a different way; but Moriah, putrid wasn’t “chastizing” anyone for being “vague,” but for using different terms interchangeably. Part of the problem is that the “Eastern Shore” IS vague. I’ve grown up understanding that it refers in a very general way to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. That covers a lot of territory – Virginia and Maryland shorelines. When putrid uses the term midwest, I take that to mean, generally, the middle of the U.S.(Iowa, Kansas, etc.) Saying “the midwest” gives me an idea of where he lives, even though it covers several states. My complaint is that people in this area who should know better are using “Eastern Shore” to refer to the Atlantic coastline of Maryland, and perhaps even the entire Delmarva peninsula. This may be due in part to the fact that the Chesapeake Bay beaches are not very popular any more, and most folks now go to the ocean beaches. Anyway, I was hoping there were some posters out there from the Eastern Shore who could verify my take on this.
My guess here is that DC & environs has too few locals & too many transplants who misunderstand local terminology.
I’ve always understood that the term “Eastern shore” referred to the Chesapeake, but among my friends in the military, many used the term to mean the Atlantic coast.
I think that like such commercial terms as BandAid, Kleenex, & Xerox, the term Eastern shore over time has gained a new meaning.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
My guess here is that DC & environs has too few locals & too many transplants who misunderstand local terminology.
I’ve always understood that the term “Eastern shore” referred to the Chesapeake, but among my friends in the military, many used the term to mean the Atlantic coast.
I think that like such commercial terms as BandAid, Kleenex, & Xerox, the term Eastern shore over time has gained a new meaning.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Sycorax has already spoken fine for me. I will add that I vaguely mentioned the midwest only to admit upfront that I am not living on the East Coast. My going into exactly where I live and what the Eastern Shore means to me here is irrelevant to the OP.
‘Midwest’ is an inexact term, yes. That excuses some people’s use of Eastern Shore to mean Eastern Seaboard because they don’t know what a seaboard is? The logic there escapes me.
Moriah seemed to imply earlier that the use of ‘shore’ as a local abbreviation for the seafront is the same sort of thing as the use of ‘Eastern Shore’ for the Eastern Seaboard. I disagree. I cannot help noticing that my assertion, that there is no tradition to the use of ‘Eastern Shore’ in that manner, was ignored.
I certainly have no beef with local usages differing for the same term in different areas. And I do not disagree that Eastern shore has gained a new meaning. But such shifts in non-local terminology, away from concision rather than towards it, do not have to be complacently accepted.
Nope. That’s the East Coast, or the Atlantic Coast, or, with the exception of Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces.
The only Eastern Shore I can think of offhand in Canada is the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, which is the s.e. coast of the mainland part of the province, to the east of Halifax to the Strait of Canso.
Sycorax, I’ve been thinking about this some more. If a guy tells his SO that he wants to take her to “the Eastern Shore” for a few days then yes, she should reasonably expect a romantic getaway to St. Michael’s, not a beer-a-thon on 7th St. So you are right, given the context.
–manhattan, still upset that no one liked my danny ocean joke.
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
Well, I grew up outside Annapolis and always thought of the Delmarva Penisula as the Eastern Shore; basically anything over the bridge. I wish I would have seen this earlier; I just spent the holiday sailing there–I could have asked the locals.
Manhattan–I thought it was “downey osheen” or least that’s what it sounds like in Bawlmer.
But you’re right, O.C. doesn’t come to mind.
[[Well, I grew up outside Annapolis and always thought of the Delmarva Penisula as the Eastern Shore; basically anything over the bridge. I wish I would have seen this earlier; I just spent the holiday sailing there–I could have asked the locals.]] 647
I was there a year ago, and a lot of locals (and local signs/media) referred to the Delmarva P. as th e"Eastern Shore."