Particular names for the ocean

[susan]

Is there something written about why it is East Coast folks call the ocean
"the water" or "the shore," Southerners call the ocean "the beach," and
West Coast (California, Oregon, and Wash. state)  folks call the ocean "the
ocean?" I have lived in all three places and this has always puzzled me.
Susan Gilbert
mssmith at boone.net

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