# What area do you think of when someone refers to "the Bay Area"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 6, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148 "2015-09-06T04:15:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/1 "2015-09-06T04:15:35Z")
What is the first region that comes to your mind when you read or hear the term “Bay Area”?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/2 "2015-09-06T04:19:38Z")
San Fransisco.
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/3 "2015-09-06T04:51:16Z")
SF: then again, living in the Northwest your chances of hearing of the other areas is almost nil.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/4 "2015-09-06T04:58:45Z")
I spent the first 16 years of my life living near or in the DelMarVa penninsula. “The Bay Area” makes me think of San Francisco.
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### Author:  [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/5 "2015-09-06T05:02:05Z")
San Francisco
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/6 "2015-09-06T05:41:48Z")
SF Bay Area. But of course I live there, so…
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/7 "2015-09-06T06:04:13Z")
I live only 50 miles from Chesapeake Bay and have gone sailing on it, but San Francisco Bay is what comes immediately to mind; in fact, that’s the only one that comes to mind. Around here, we may refer to Chesapeake as “the Bay,” but there’s no phrase “the Bay Area” applied to here. Instead we call various parts of it the Washington-Baltimore area, the Eastern Shore, the Northern Neck, etc. I don’t think there’s any single name for the whole circum-Chesapeake region. It’s too large for that and it comprises a number of regions.
My sister lives in Oakland, but that didn’t bias me at all either.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/8 "2015-09-06T06:18:37Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> SF Bay Area. But of course I live there, so…
My answer too.
When I was stationed at Long Beach, the folks down there called it the South Bay, and being from San Francisco that sounded a little odd. To me, South Bay means San Jose and the surrounding area.
But, a bay is a bay is a bay, so bay area can be pretty generic.
But, Bay Area? There is only one! 😃 And we’re currently the baseball and basketball champions. _ **The New Title Town** _. So take that, Green Bay and Pittsburgh!
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### Author:  [@halman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halman)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/9 "2015-09-06T06:46:37Z")
I was born in Berkeley, and grew up in Orinda and Oakland.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/10 "2015-09-06T08:29:14Z")
I’ve never lived anywhere close to SF, but that’s where the Bay Area is.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/11 "2015-09-06T08:55:41Z")
Even though now I know they’re talking about San Francisco, that was only clear to me so very recently that I will give my genuine answer if you’d asked me two years ago: I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about at all. It was just some anonymous zone of America that I was unfamiliar with.
Even now there are a couple of other areas/references where that’s still true, but slowly I piece those kinds of things together as context clarifies. e.g. I know a lot of people aren’t certain what “New England” refers to, or what the Florida Keys are, or the Mason Dixon line, or the Bible Belt, or what Upstate New York means, or where the Tri-State Area is\*. I know (vaguely) what those are now, but it’s not easy to figure out things like that most of the time.
\*_turns out, it’s everywhere and nowhere_
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/12 "2015-09-06T11:06:52Z")
In a national context I’d assume the SF area was being discussed.
But Galveston Bay isn’t far from here. There’s even a Bay Area Boulevard linking neighborhoods near NASA.
Even just in the USA, there are lots of bays.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/13 "2015-09-06T11:30:29Z")
I think of Hawkes Bay Karachi, near which I lived at one time.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/14 "2015-09-06T12:04:09Z")
While it is the SF area, I don’t know what area of and around SF it refers to. The city and the surrounding areas that touch the Bay, including Oakland? or a much more limited area similar to how Manhattan is divided into sub area such as SoHo,Tribeca, Upper East/West Side, etc. I assume it is a larger area just because it is such a popular term, so many people seem to reference it plus I don’t recall any other subdivision for SF used. So more like a term used for the NYC metro area which goes well into NJ and CT (and a good chunk outside the city limits in NY.)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/15 "2015-09-06T12:21:28Z")
Ohioan here. Yup, San Francisco and its environs.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/16 "2015-09-06T15:05:50Z")
San Francisco, but I never vote in public polls.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/17 "2015-09-06T15:34:31Z")
I;ve lived in both Berkeley and St. Pete, but for whatever reason Tampa is the first one that jumps to mind when I hear “Bay Area”.
(Isn’t the Boston area sometimes called the “bay area” as well, or did I make that up?)
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/18 "2015-09-06T15:43:14Z")
I’ve had an online conversation like the following:
Me: Where are you from?
Them: The South Bay.
Me: California? I’m from the East Bay.
Them: Cool!
(Lots of conversation later)
Me: Err… you’re not from anywhere near San Jose, are you?
It was either LA or San Diego, but that doesn’t scan with me.
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### Author:  [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/19 "2015-09-06T15:47:12Z")
A window where the dog or cat sits.
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### Author:  [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-area-do-you-think-of-when-someone-refers-to-the-bay-area/730148/20 "2015-09-06T15:54:54Z")
> [@Johanna](#):
>
> I live only 50 miles from Chesapeake Bay and have gone sailing on it, but San Francisco Bay is what comes immediately to mind; in fact, that’s the only one that comes to mind. Around here, we may refer to Chesapeake as “the Bay,” but there’s no phrase “the Bay Area” applied to here. Instead we call various parts of it the Washington-Baltimore area, the Eastern Shore, the Northern Neck, etc. I don’t think there’s any single name for the whole circum-Chesapeake region. It’s too large for that and it comprises a number of regions.
>
> My sister lives in Oakland, but that didn’t bias me at all either.
Same here.
Except for the sister part.
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