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

[Arnold Zwicky]

peter mcgraw has it right: out here, the country east of the
mississippi is "back east".  (i grant that when i was back east, this
part of the world was "out west".  the two expressions together
reflect the settlement history of the country, of course.  even my
stepmother, who didn't travel east of the rocky mountains until she
was in her 50s, always referred to my ohio house as being "back
east".)

however, for most of the people i know in northern california, the
line where "back east" starts is *way* west of the mississippi; for
most of us, denver is certainly back east, and salt lake city maybe
is.  the states of nevada and arizona (like oregon and washington)
certainly are not.  new mexico and idaho are iffy.  but colorado,
texas, oklahoma, montana, the dakotas, etc. are definitely back east.
beef from colorado is "eastern beef"; beef from california, nevada, or
arizona is "western beef" (and is, of course, intrinsically better,
according to common belief).

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu), raised and educated way back east,
  a son of californians for 40+ years, a midwestern linguist for
  29 years, bicoastal for 17 years, now a nocal lad