In practice, however, it is usually used to refer strictly to California.
By whom? Would these people not consider Seattle to be on the West Coast? --Brion 06:13 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)
By Easterners who only recognize New York and Hollywood as parts of the United States. -- Zoe
Can you give an example of usage? I'm honestly curious. Is this just "thinking mostly of California", as I might tend to think of Boston-New York-Philly-Washington as "the East Coast" and not tend to think so much of whatever cities they have in, say, Georgia? (Uhhh, Atlanta or something.) But if you asked me, I'd certainly consider Georgia to be in "the East Coast". --Brion 06:23 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)
The first example that comes to mind is in the article itself, when it talks about "West Coast Rap". That's the Los Angeles area only. -- Zoe
Well then, it seems the term is used to refer specifically to Los Angeles, not to California! ;) Seriously, if the majority of the population and cultural capital of the West Coast is in California, why would it be surprising that things in California dominate the set of things described as being West Coast? --Brion
Well, how about 'remarkable'? The current wording implies, to me, that the following dialogue sequence is possible, even likely:
Bob: Well, I was visiting some relatives on the West Coast and...
Tim: What? I thought you were visiting relatives in Seattle. Did you take a side trip to the West Coast too?
Bob: Yes, Tim. I did. Seattle is nice, but on the West Coast they have even better things to see, like the Golden Gate Bridge. It was nice to get away to the West Coast after that dreary visit to Washington State.
which I doubt. If it's simply meant to note that many West Coast things are Californian, that seems a relatively unremarkable fact; if worthy of mention at all, it's certainly worded incorrectly. If something like the above is meant, then I'm darn curious who really talks like that. And if it's just New Yorkers, then we need some NPOV-ing. ;) --Brion
LOL, Brion. No, but they'll probably say "I flew out to the West Coast" (or, more likely, The Coast)", meaning California and probably more likely Southern California. I don't see anything POV about it. -- Zoe
Again, I see this as unremarkable. If I tell you "I'm flying out to the East Coast", meaning the Northeast and probably more likely New York or Boston, are you going to write that "'East Coast' in practice, however, is usually used to refer strictly to New York and southern New England"? It's not a POV issue so much as one of accuracy. The 'usually' and particularly 'strictly' are very weighty and general pronouncements which make no allowance for the simple weights of probabilities of subject matter or variations in regional usage, and I question their accuracy. --Brion 07:00 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)
As a native Seattleite, I've always heard Washington and Oregon referred to as belonging to the West Coast--We even have West Coast Hotels here. Now, when someone says they went to the West Coast, they usually went to California, but that doesn't mean that West Coast usually applies only to California. Likewise, when someone says, "I went to France last summer," they usually went to Paris, but that doesn't mean that the Val de Loire isn't part of France. I'm going to remove the sentence, and if anyone objects, she can say something here. -- ShadowDragon 22:36, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)
