A person who has residences on both the east coast and the Left Coast are called ‘bi-coastal’. What if someone has residences in San Diego and Seattle? What would they be called? ‘Bi-borderal’?
And given that others might have north-south residences in other parts of the country, would there need to be qualifiers? In the case I mentioned, would that person be a ‘West Coast Bi-Borderite’? Would someone else who is in Vermont and SoCal be ‘Bi-coastal/bi-borderal’?
But the real question is whether there is a north-south equivalent to ‘bi-coastal’.
. . . as in, Joe Schmoe owns a house in North Dakota, and lives there in the summertime. When autumn sets in and it begins getting cold, he makes his way to his house in Arizona, where he enjoys the warmer weather. ‘Snowbirds’ typically migrate towards warmer climes, just as regular aviary birds do.
Tripler
But that’s the only term I’ve ever heard for North-South.
I’ve often heard “snowbirds” but it has always seemed to me to be a term applied by the year-round locals the the folks who come down to escape the Northern winter- as a pejoritive used either with resentment or friendly teasing (but generally not very harshly, not really “fighting words”). As with some other pejoritives it is often adopted with pride by those to whom it applies.
It may be the best term to correspond with “bi-coastal” but the two terms don’t share the same connotations. “Bi-coastal” often implies a certain sophistication and “world”-liness.
Only speaking for the connotations I have heard applied to “snowbirds”, others may experience the term differently. But if there is a better answer to the OP I don’t know it.
Perhaps it is more of a pejoritive in the south, but it is pretty much a neutral term here. It does connotate a seasonal pattern which bi-coastal does not. Also I have heard the term bi-coastal be used as a pejoritive as well as in a lavish wasteful lifestile, not in touch with the common man.
Okay, I live outside NYC, the wife and I just bought a condo in Vermont to rent out during the ski season, and for us to use in the late spring, summer and fall.
The problem I see with ‘snowbirds’ is that it’s a slang term, rather than a descriptive one. If someone says he’s bi-coastal, then you immediately know that the person lives on both coasts. If someone says he’s a Snowbird, I’m likely to think, ‘Hm. You don’t look like a Canadian aerobatic team member!’
These folks (Snowbird-Realty) don’t seem to think of the term as pejorative, and I doubt their customers would, either.
Still, I don’t agree that bi-coastal and snowbird is the same thing for east-west vs. north-south. The latter is migratory, and the former is just kind of ueber-worldly.
The term snowbirds is rarely in my experience been pejoritive even among the locals. Remembering of course that being “local” down south requires at least three generations. My children, all born in south Louisiana where I have lived for 25years, don’t really qualify as local. Snowbirds isn’t a complimentary term, but the reason is primarily due to wondering why the folks leave every year to go back up north.
