East is back (was: /or/ distinctions: TOUR)

[Steve K.]

On Fri, 14 Apr 2000, Peter A. McGraw wrote:

> To a westerner, "out east" sounds really bizarre.  Except for "Down East,"
> which I've always understood as a specific region and its culturee rather
> than a direction, the only way to describe any place east of the
> Mississippi (roughly) is "BACK east" (as opposed to "out here").

To me, 'back east' would imply that one has been there at some point?

I could be alone in my little solitary isogloss, however. I think my use
of 'out east' is modeled on 'out west' and I never really heard people
refer to the east all that much, so I probably made up my own phrase.

--- Steve K.