the Puget Sound

[Peter Richardson]

Recently three of my students who are from the Seattle area have referred
to "the Puget Sound." And this morning on Morning Edition there was a
background comment about "the Puget Sound"--a comment made not by the
reporter, but by someone native to the area. Now, I've always said, "the
Puget Sound area," but otherwise just "Puget Sound": Puget Sound is
pretty, they live on Puget Sound, etc. Has anyone in this neck of the
woods noticed what seems to be a recent phenomenon? (Or any other neck of
the woods, for that matter) It's doubtful that these three students are up
to something, hatching a plot to drive me crazy; and I know that they're
all natives of the area and not from east of the mountains, where one
tends to say "the Coast."

Peter R.