"Up there" , "Up north" ..SoCal observation (Berkeley: living in, rail)

[wash_heightz_dr]

i noticed from my encounters with californians....people from socal always refer to the bay as "up there" or "up north" but bay people never say "i am going down there" when referencing L.A ...or even "down south". strange huh..

i guess its the same with "the" in front of freeways

[Charles]

Unless the specific city is mentioned

The bay area
Southern California
The southland

are probably the most common generalized terms.

And, within regions, "the Valley", "the south bay", "the inland empire", "north county" are also used.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by wash_heightz_dr

i noticed from my encounters with californians....people from socal always refer to the bay as "up there" or "up north" but bay people never say "i am going down there" when referencing L.A ...or even "down south". strange huh..

i guess its the same with "the" in front of freeways

That's because Bay Area folks never actually do go "down there"

[BayAreaHillbilly]

I grew up saying "down south" and it specifically meant the Southland / SoCal.

(And conversely, when I lived in the Southland for few years during early adulthood, we indeed said "up North" generally meaning the Bay Area although it could also refer to Nor Cal overall. )

Growing up and later, I never said "down there" whilst living in the Bay Area. That is nasty and rude sounding. Although I reckon certain latter day Bay Area snobs may say that.

[Mach50]

Usually when a SoCal resident refers to the BayArea as "up there" it is also accompanied by an eye roll.... To imply that "up there" is where all the weirdos are.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Mach50

Usually when a SoCal resident refers to the BayArea as "up there" it is also accompanied by an eye roll.... To imply that "up there" is where all the weirdos are.

And they're right, especially if they're thinking about or referring to the Bay Area or the Capitol!

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

And they're right, especially if they're thinking about or referring to the Bay Area or the Capitol!

Funny, the Bay Area people have long said the same thing about SoCal - I remember family arguments about that when I was a kid between the L.A. and Bay Area branches of my family about which was weirder.

(I hear "down south" and "down there" relatively often, as well as much more hostile stuff. The dilution of native Californian culture has watered down the hatreds a bit, but the Bay Area, especially SF, still hates SoCal, whereas in SoCal outside of the gang subculture there isn't really much hatred for the Bay Area beyond sports teams. And even in the gang subculture there might be less, given that SF has Surenos now, which to me seems as odd as there being Nortenos in L.A.)

Ultimately it's probably about even with a slight edge to the Bay Area just for Berkeley. (You yourself said something like the weirdos are all over the state and there's no escape), otoh L.A. is probably the weirdest big city on the planet.

BTW many of those nuts in the Capitol are from SoCal.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Mach50

That's because Bay Area folks never actually do go "down there"

riiight, that's why the SF-LA air route is one of the busiest in the nation. Not to mention all the inter regional traffic up and down I-5 and the planned High Speed Rail system.

I've heard "down there/south" plenty of times in the Bay Area too.

[EelRiver]

I live in L.A. County but originally from Humboldt. I don't even consider the Bay Area "up north", I guess it is simply the Bay Area to me. In my mind northern CA is everything above that area and the Bay Area is a part of central CA.

[stillfresh]

im from the bay i say "down there" .. not "down south" tho
i usually say down there whenever im talking to friends or family from down there
like "ima be down there next week ima call u to see whats up."
they know what the deal is.