Particular names for the ocean

[A. Maberry]

On Mon, 6 Dec 1999, susan wrote:

> 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

When I was a kid in Portland, OR we always refered to it as "the beach"
not "the ocean". I hear "the ocean" commonly here in Seattle, perhaps
because, unlike Oregon, there are many beaches that aren't ocean beaches.

Allen
maberry at u.washington.edu