# Your geographical misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294 "2020-12-30T20:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/241 "2021-01-12T17:42:53Z")
A few years ago, some people made an effort to brand the cities bordering on the Great Lakes as the North Coast. We had a North Coast radio station and so did others. Haven’t heard the term in a while, though. Guess it never caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/242 "2021-01-12T17:45:15Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Suburban St. Louis Missouri has a similar _faux_ MIT. **[Meramec Community College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Community_College%E2%80%93Meramec)** is commonly called “MIT” = “Meramec in town”. A Milwaukee suburb has similar, a faux UCLA. Cudahy High School is known as “University of Cudahy on the Lake, Almost”. (Or Aina,hey) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/243 "2021-01-12T17:56:56Z")
The Third Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/244 "2021-01-12T18:18:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I remember it because Poland and Lithuania used to be a commonwealth and share a monarch, so if you are aware of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Lithuania is the one that abuts Poland. (Along With that weird exclave of Kalingrad), therefore it’s southernmost.And Latvia is the next one northeast, and the Estonia is the one that is closest to Finland, with whom it shares a language family (Finno-Ugric), which the other two do not. > > Ok, that’s way more complicated than north to south they’re in alphabetical order, but if you happen to know about Poland and Lithuania’s historical closeness, that’s another point of reinforcement for your memory. And on the other end of the region, I remember that Estonia is the northernmost Baltic country because I remember hearing that Estonians and Finns are closely related. The Estonian language is close enough to Finnish that they were able to listen to Finnish radio and television broadcasts during the cold war. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/245 "2021-01-12T18:34:37Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > This may help That has left me better informed but more confused. At any rate, more consciously confused. I felt less confused before because I didn’t know there was so much to be confused about. > [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Growing up on the east coast, west has always been inland for me. And this has caused me trouble for the last 20 years after moving to the Gulf Coast. I still think “West” when people talk about going inland or to the other coast even though it’s “East” now. When I spent several months on the West Coast many years ago, I ran into that problem: I discovered that to a large chunk of my head “East” meant “towards the nearest ocean”; which is interesting because although I’d previously spent all my life in East Coast states, I had never lived and only briefly been anywhere in sight of the Atlantic. Nevertheless my sense of direction, what little there is of it, was massively and unnervingly disconcerted by having the direction “towards the nearest ocean” become "West’. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/246 "2021-01-12T18:44:04Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > When I spent several months on the West Coast many years ago, I ran into that problem: I discovered that to a large chunk of my head “East” meant “towards the nearest ocean”; which is interesting because although I’d previously spent all my life in East Coast states, I had never lived and only briefly been anywhere in sight of the Atlantic. Nevertheless my sense of direction, what little there is of it, was massively and unnervingly disconcerted by having the direction “towards the nearest ocean” become "West’. And in Southern California, traveling along the coast on the 405, sometimes the ocean is to the South! ---
**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:** [January 12, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/247 "2021-01-12T18:49:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The other funny thing living in Greater Miami now is that when I hear a neighbor talking about visiting the “West Coast” I automatically think they mean California, Oregon, or Washington states. Nope. They usually mean Naples, Sarasota, Tampa, etc. The _other_ West Coast. :smack: And, when someone says “The Bay Area”, it could mean the San Francisco Bay Area, or the Tampa Bay Area, depending on where they are from. Additionally, within CA, there are two “South Bay”: the San Jose area and, some amorphous glob of suburbia near Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/248 "2021-01-12T18:56:03Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > some amorphous glob of suburbia near Los Angeles. Hey! I resemble that remark… > **[Manhattan County Beach in Manhattan Beach, CA - California Beaches](https://www.californiabeaches.com/beach/manhattan-county-beach/)** > > Manhattan Beach (the beach) is the main beach of the city of Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County. It's a popular beach that becomes a madhouse on ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/249 "2021-01-12T19:27:04Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I discovered that to a large chunk of my head “East” meant “towards the nearest ocean”; I had the same problem when I moved here. I would get completely discombobulated when I saw signs on the freeway directing you to “I-80 West – San Francisco” and “I-80 East – Reno”, since those directions seemed backwards to me. Not only did my brain think east meant “towards the ocean”, west meant “towards the mountains”, which are also on the wrong side here. It took me years to get that sorted out. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/250 "2021-01-12T19:44:30Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > A few years ago, some people made an effort to brand the cities bordering on the Great Lakes as the North Coast. We had a North Coast radio station and so did others. > > Haven’t heard the term in a while, though. Guess it never caught on. There are lots of things called “North Coast” around here. Like my chorus. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/251 "2021-01-12T20:02:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The other funny thing living in Greater Miami now is that when I hear a neighbor talking about visiting the “West Coast” I automatically think they mean California, Oregon, or Washington states. Nope. They usually mean Naples, Sarasota, Tampa, etc. The _other_ West Coast. :smack: I never lived in Florida but I always thought the locals called it the Gulf Coast. I know that’s what they generally call it in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/252 "2021-01-12T20:26:56Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > When I spent several months on the West Coast many years ago, I ran into that problem: I discovered that to a large chunk of my head “East” meant “towards the nearest ocean”; which is interesting because although I’d previously spent all my life in East Coast states, I had never lived and only briefly been anywhere in sight of the Atlantic. Nevertheless my sense of direction, what little there is of it, was massively and unnervingly disconcerted by having the direction “towards the nearest ocean” become "West’. There was the final scene in the movie _The Green Berets_ where John Wayne walks beside the ocean as the sun sets. Which only worked because they filmed the movie in California. In Vietnam, the ocean (or the South China Sea if you want to nitpick) lies to the east and the sun rises over it. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/253 "2021-01-12T20:56:11Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I had the same problem when I moved here. I would get completely discombobulated when I saw signs on the freeway directing you to “I-80 West – San Francisco” and “I-80 East – Reno”, since those directions seemed backwards to me. Not only did my brain think east meant “towards the ocean”, west meant “towards the mountains”, which are also on the wrong side here. It took me years to get that sorted out. In the East Bay (Berkeley), there is a north-south-oriented section of freeway where I-80 and I-580 run concurrent - both freeways are East-West by designation, but when you are traveling south on this roadway, you are on I-80 West/I-580 East, and when you are traveling north on this roadway, you are on I-80 East/I-580 West. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/254 "2021-01-12T20:58:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I never lived in Florida but I always thought the locals called it the Gulf Coast. I know that’s what they generally call it in Texas. Kinda depends on where and who’s speaking. IMO/IME … The panhandle part of the FL coast faces south and is unequivocally the “gulf coast”. Folks from the Midwest seem to call it the “gulf coast” too. It seems to be mostly the transplanted northeasterners who predominantly live along the Atlantic coast of So FL and consider the north/south part of the FL gulf coast to be the “West Coast”. Pre-COVID it was a popular weekend trip from here. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/255 "2021-01-12T22:29:48Z")
I was only in San Diego for 2 years, I never did get that sorted in my head. Now, in the middle of NY, the ocean doesn’t really become an issue. Things are much more about what side of the lake are you on? ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/256 "2021-01-12T22:43:16Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Additionally, within CA, there are two “South Bay”: the San Jose area and, some amorphous glob of suburbia near Los Angeles. Actually (at least) 3 - Silicon Valley area, the Southern end of San Diego bay (Chula Vista, etc) and the aforementioned “glob” which is the southern part of Santa Monica Bay and my longtime stomping grounds. Basically everything between LAX and the Palos Verdes Peninsula along the coast west of the Harbor Freeway. I count San Pedro as honorary South Bay, despite being on the far side of the PV peninsula on San Pedro bay, thanks to the Minutemen being part of the late 70s-early 80s South Bay punk scene along with beach city based-bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks and the Descendents. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/257 "2021-01-12T23:39:42Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > I count San Pedro as honorary South Bay, despite being on the far side of the PV peninsula on San Pedro bay, thanks to the Minutemen being part of the late 70s-early 80s South Bay punk scene along with beach city based-bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks and the Descendents. Yeah, my mis-perception about L.A.'s South Bay is that it was based on San Pedro Bay and Long Beach, which is directly “south” of downtown L.A., and at least to me, a more pronounced geographic “bay” than Santa Monica Bay. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/258 "2021-01-13T00:22:29Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > at least to me, a more pronounced geographic “bay” than Santa Monica Bay. Santa Monica Bay doesn’t really stand out as a bay when you look at a map, but when you go up into Palos Verdes and look northwest across the ocean to Malibu, then it hits you. “Yep, it really is a bay, all right”. My other confusion comes with US-101. It runs from Los Angeles all the way up the coast to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. So of course the sides are designated north and south. But, for the first 120 miles or so, from Downtown LA to Gaviota Pass, it runs East-West. When I lived in the Valley it was always confusing to think “I need to get on 101-N to go west” or “get on the southbound lanes to go east”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/259 "2021-01-13T00:25:55Z")
There are lots of highways like that across the country. You need to think about the end points: _this_ way goes to Seattle; _that_ way goes to San Diego. Not so much which compass direction the next 10 miles go. But definitely disorienting at first nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/260 "2021-01-13T00:30:51Z")
See the Hacker’s Dictionary [http://hackerslang.com/logical.html](http://hackerslang.com/logical.html) “At Stanford, _logical_ compass directions denote a coordinate system in which `logical north’ is toward San Francisco, _logical west_ is toward the ocean, etc., even though logical north varies between physical (true) north near San Francisco and physical west near San Jose. (The best rule of thumb here is that, by definition, El Camino Real always runs logical north-and-south.) In giving directions, one might say “To get to Rincon Tarasco restaurant, get onto El Camino Bignum going logical north.” Using the word _logical_ helps to prevent the recipient from worrying about that the fact that the sun is setting almost directly in front of him.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=14)