Does "East Coast" equal "Northeast"? (college, live)

[Marya]

It seems to. Especially since I've seen states that don't border the ocean at all, like Pennsylvania and Vermont, included in the "East Coast." And I also hear people from Atlantic-bordering Southern states use the terms synonymously.

How do you define the "East Coast"?

[TerrySRA]

All the Atlantic states from Maine to Florida.

[anonymous]

Literally, yes, it means all Atlantic states from Maine to Florida. But in South Carolina and North Carolina, almost no one uses the term "East Coast". I think it is used far more frequently in the northeast, though. When someone says they are from the "East Coast", I think of the Boston - Washington corridor.

[anonymous]

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Co..._United_States

The term "East Coast" is often associated with the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States, particularly for cultural concepts such as an "Eastern college" or "East-coast liberal" or the "I-95 Corridor" (referring to Interstate 95). The Southeastern portion of the coast from Virginia to Florida is more typically associated culturally with the larger American South. "East Coast" may also refer even more narrowly to the highly urbanized strip along the coast from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., which is also known as the "Northeast Corridor", a definition which excludes the hinterlands of Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania, which may have more in common with the Midwest than with cities like New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Boston.

[LittleMissSunshine]

All the states that touch the Atlantic from Maine to Florida.

I consider PA, the Northeast, but not the East Coast.

[anonymous]

LittleMissSunshine, how do you figure? I've never, not once, heard a southerner say they were from the "east coast". How does it include NC, SC, and Georgia - and no, I don't mean geographically.

[irwin]

I would say it goes from Northern Va to Maine. I would not include Western PA as that is more Midwest.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by Marya

It seems to. Especially since I've seen states that don't border the ocean at all, like Pennsylvania and Vermont, included in the "East Coast." And I also hear people from Atlantic-bordering Southern states use the terms synonymously.

How do you define the "East Coast"?

Actually, Pennsylvania does border the ocean. Part of it lines the Delaware Estuary.

The only time I've heard the term "East Coast" used is when it was referring to the genre of rap (which usually encompasses Mass., NY, NJ, Penn., Mary., and Vir.). If I were to hear someone say East Coast, I would assume they were talking about all the states that touch the Atlantic with the exception of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or the western coast of Florida. Otherwise, they need to be specific about whether it's the north or southeast.

[silviodante]

I think traditionally it means Northeast, and most Southerners in the coastal states prefer to identify with the general south rather than the coast, but as the influx of northerners from the "East Coast" fills in the gap between Northern Virginia and Florida, I think it's gonna be more common to refer to an "East Coast" culture. I predict North Carolina will (ok, already does) have a lot more in common with Florida and Maryland than Alabama and Arkansas. Plus, as someone who has lived in MA, NY, NC, and FL I like to think of it all as my turf "the East Coast."

Almost everyone up north knows someone in Florida or the Carolinas and regularly vacations there. Its a merging of cultures as the West Coast did (used to be just California, now that all the 'fornians have moved, WA, OR, and even NV and AZ are considered "West Coast"

[wallstreet1986]

Its a term to refer to the Northeast or yankee areas of the eastern coast like florida, hilton head, cary north carolina -- stuff that i hate lol well much better cary north carolina than boston