You know you live in the SF Bay area when...

[Gormy Cuss]

a bridge closing is just an excuse to try that scenic route via San Jose...


Please add your own.

[CreekDog]

1. ...when you know that people who call freeways "The 101" or BART "The BART" are wrong

I think it's a Bay Area thing to instinctively think, "hey, they didn't say that right, this is not Southern California". :rant:

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Yep. One of the things I learned from my native friends...

"The 101" doesn't go through the bay area, but 101 and Highway 1 do.

[Duer 157099]

5. Uh oh. I have always called it the 101. Always.

Now Bart I call Bart.

Did I mention I'm transplanted from So. Cal? We have the 405, the 101, the 10, the 110, the only one we have without a "the" is PCH.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. Ever call Highway 1 "PCH" in the Bay area?

That's a sure mark of an outsider.

[Duer 157099]

7. No, of course not. Up here it's "the One"

I think PCH stops around where it goes into Oxnard.

[CreekDog]

24. "The One" ???

We most certainly do not call it "The One".

[Hell Hath No Fury]

26. No one I know calls it that --

:shrug:

Sounds like out of town faux hipster talk to me. :D

"The One". :rofl:

[CreekDog]

28. Remember what McCain called Obama?

"That One" :rofl:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

32. Or is this one --

"The One"? :D

[Duer 157099]

40. Faux hipster? lol

I'm a So Cal native and when I talk about driving south, I'm either going to take "the" 101, "the" 1, or "the" 5.

They are highways/freeways. Without the "the" all they are are numbers.

If I said I'm going to take 101 down south, people would say: "take 101 whats down south? 101 passengers? 101 apples? 101 bottles of wine?"

But when I say I'm taking "the" 101 down south, it's immediately clear.

[Sequoia]

35. That's what I think of...the PCH.

People used to go..."PCH...what's that?". Thesedays I like to call it the Coast Highway like Mike Stone does in Streets of San Francisco.

[petronius]

8. The Bay Area can lay claim to a lot of great things, but Southern California

takes precedence when it comes to freeway knowledge - if they're called differently in the Bay Area, then the Bay Area is wrong. (And those douchebags in the East blathering on about their pikeways or whatever the fuck they think freeways are called? It is to laugh...)

:)

[Gormy Cuss]

10. People in the East call things "route " such and such rather than "highway" too

America. What a country.

[TZ]

12. No we don't call anything highways really

Its usually interstates or route something or other. Nothing is named "highway", FYI

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Uh, that's what I asserted.

:hi:

[TZ]

15. D'oh!

Been one of those weeks...

[CreekDog]

25. .

[friendly_iconoclast]

61. 'round here (Beantown) we do both just to fuck with the auslanders

Highways and roads can either be number only or "Route/I-XXX". Someone using the number only = local.
1,1A,2,2A,3,3A,93,95,128,495

Except for:

THE Southeast Expressway and THE Mass Pike

[hippywife]

58. Turnpikes.

We have them here in OK, too. They are only called that if they are tollroads and are avoided at all costs.

:hi:

[petronius]

62. I really do know the word, I was just teasing

Playing a little bit of 'my region rules, your region drools' (Although not your region specifically, I mean "your" in the generic sense here... </GD> )

:)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

80. There is not a single "freeway" in Florida and I'm quite fine with that.

Mostly "Expressways", a few "Highways" and "Parkways", a "Turnpike", one "Greenway" (i.e. Central Florida Greenway) and of course, an 80 mile long "Alley" (i.e. Alligator Alley). Or simply, "the Interstate". (It doesn't matter if it is Interstate 95, 75, 10 or 4. Or even an actual Interstate for that matter.)

"Freeway" is a fine term for California and whatever other place wishes to use that term, but never much cared for it myself. Always conjures up visions of smoggy, traffic filled LA, and perhaps the Juice driving down in his White Bronco.

[fizzgig]

21. my dad and sister say 'the 5'

it irritates me for some reason

[CreekDog]

27. It irritates you because it's an abomination

:grr:

[fizzgig]

33. it's the only highway they do that with

they don't say 'the 25' or 'the 80'

[KamaAina]

3. And yet not one of you has so far bothered to stop by and say Hi

Bunch of FReepers. P

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Nice post, n00b.

:P

[REP]

9. Downtown is San Jose; the City is San Francisco but Mountain View is not "The View"

Heard some tourist call it that - in Mountain View - the other day. Much hilarity ensued.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. That's hilarious.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

29. What is it with ---

the new thing of adding "the" to a city/neigborhood?? I heard my 30ish nephew talking about wanting to live in "The Heights" -- known to us regular folk as Pacific Heights here in SF. :shrug: And some noob in my neighborhood stated that it was nice living in "Portola Heights" -- I've lived in my nieghborhood for 45+ years and all that time I've lived in the Portola District. Shit like that annoys the fuck out of me.

The new one I saw that annoyed that crap out of me was hearing Bayview/Hunter's Point referred to as Gayview in a Craig's List posting. I wanted to smack the living shit out of the yuppie twats who are infesting the sole black, working class neighborhood left in the City and trying to turn into the latest hipster Mission District. :puke:

[Gormy Cuss]

47. Heights=a desirable place.

Portola District sounds like an industrial zone.

The renaming can usually be tracked back to the same people who renamed attached single family residences "townHOMES" -- those perky sales people known as realtors.




Gayview on the other hand is just offensive six ways from Sunday.

[REP]

59. Excuse me - it's TOWNEHOMES!

At least, that's what the complex I live in calls it. The extra "e" justifies the prices!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

78. Ah, yes --

"Heights" adds a good 15k to the price of a house. :D My nephew mentioned one of his friends lived in "Bayshore Heights" -- I have no idea where he is talking about!

[Capn Sunshine]

51. Can "Tenderloin Heights" be far behind?

You just reminded me of a movie I insist anyone who wants to invest in rental properties watch-
"Pacific Heights" with Michael Keaton

[KamaAina]

56. Not shabby. At present it's called "Lower Nob Hill".

in a similar vein to "Lower Pacific Heights" for "the Fillmore".

One wag on Yelp calls it "the Tendernob". "Tenderloin Heights" works for me.

[Gormy Cuss]

60. Tender Nob cracks me up every time I see it in print.

Why not Loin Valley?
:rofl:

[KamaAina]

67. Come to think, the "Tender (K)nob" is adjacent to "Loin Valley"

Gotta love SF... :P

[Hell Hath No Fury]

79. "Pacific Heights" --

the exteriors filmed of a house on 19th & Texas up on Potrero Hill! :D I was so irritated when I saw that movie -- I simply could not get past them being in a completely different neigborhood. Fun movie, though -- especially loved the use of a nail gun. :D

The day the Tenderloin goes hip is the day the San Francisco of my youth dies. :(

[KamaAina]

55. Those must be the "the"s that we don't attach to freeway numbers

:-)

[friendly_iconoclast]

65. SoCal wankers!

And I say that w/ due apologies to my relatives in the Valley...

There are only three highways that get the "the" around here:

The Central Artery, The Mass Pike, and The Southeast Expressway

Every other highway, it's "Number, please!"

It's a shibboleth, what can I say?

[Arugula Latte]

13. It's 95 degrees on one side of the hills but you have to bring a sweater

if you're planning on going into the city in the summertime ...

[Gormy Cuss]

17. Or if you live in the city and are visiting someone east of the hills in the summer,

you need to find your one pair of shorts and some sandals and plan to change clothes when you get there.

[Arugula Latte]

64. Or, if you live in San Francisco in the sunnier Twin Peaks/Noe Valley area

like I used to, and you are going to visit your friend in the Sunset, you have to call her before you leave to see if she's socked in with fog, and dress accordingly. :)

[BlueCollar]

82. I always just assumed Sunset would be fogbound and dressed

accordingly.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

16. You start to believe everyone you neet is progressive

and you are usually right. Then you go someplace like Visalia and...Oopsie, not so much.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. Hearing --

"the 101" or "the 280" is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. :puke: The only time "the" might come into play is in "Take 280 north to the 380 interchange then take 101 north into the City."

[CreekDog]

19. You pronounce Concord as "Conquered"

:think:

[Gormy Cuss]

37. con_CORD is a grape. The other times I've seen it used as a placename it's pronounced CON-quered.

Concord, NH and Concord, MA for example (well, they're really CON-kid because of the R dropping thing, but close enough.)

The weird thing is that the con-CORD grape was developed in CON-kid, MA.

[friendly_iconoclast]

66. Also, a really neat airplane that doesn't fly anymore

n/t

[lies and propaganda]

39. that made my spit!

I remember hearing someone actually pronouncing it "Velley - Jo" instead of Vallejo once..

[KamaAina]

41. I may have to name my daughter "Velley-Jo"

:rofl:

'specially if her mom turns out to be my dear friend from a neighboring town... :loveya:

edit: ROFL

[pink-o]

46. That's like called Yosemite Yo Sa Meight.

In fact, a Jewish girl in San Francisco started making t-shirts that say Yo, Semite. I own one, had to have it!

[shanti]

72. when i lived in vallejo

it was pronounced valay-oh by everyone. nobody said valay-ho, the way the spanish pronounciation would have it.

[Arugula Latte]

75. People also have a hard time with "Ygnacio" if they've not lived in Contra Costa Co.

Come to think of it, they often pronounce "Contra Costa" as "Contra Coast-a" (which is actually closer to truer Spanish pronunciation).

[OffWithTheirHeads]

20. You hear someone say "Frisco" and you cringe.

[jonnyblitz]

22. when I lived there i was told NEVER to use that word. nt

[CreekDog]

23. Herb Caen said it was okay to call it "Frisco"

Sometime in the 1990's, he wrote a column saying it was okay and that times had changed. :think:

yes really! :eyes:

[Blue_In_AK]

31. Was Herb getting senile by then?

[Blue_In_AK]

30. I hate that worse than anything.

I haven't lived in San Francisco for many years, but that one still grates...

[pink-o]

36. Yeah, it will always be the mark of a rube tourist, regardless if Herb said it was okay..

Although he related an anecdote in his column that pretty well sums up Bay Area vernacular in a nutshell.

A man from the east coast was on a business trip to Oakland and was staying in a hotel by Oakland airport. He went to the consierge and told her he needed to meet a client, so he asked her for a map of the city. Upon receiving the map, he shook his head and said:

"I need a map of Oakland. Why did you give me a map of San Francisco?"

She just looked blankly at him, then replied: "Well, you asked for a map of The City, didn't you?"

[Blue_In_AK]

43. Perfect.

That's another thing that's stuck with me over the past almost 40 years. It's "The City."

We just came back from Oakland/San Francisco last weekend. We got to hang out with my best old friend from back in the day and went to Westfest in GG Park on Sunday. We had an absolute blast. I have photos here http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/gallery/10143472_umU7n#P-1-12 if you want to check them out. :) (Shameless plug.)

[pink-o]

45. I was biking around the city last Sunday, and ended up in the park.

I forgot about WestFest, until I heard the music. Reminds me of my childhood and the Youngbloods playing in Sharon Meadows.

Great pix, btw. Full disclosure, I work for Alaska in SFO, so seeing the smiling Inuit on the tail is just something that's imprinted on my brain forever. Hope they treated you okay for your trip!

[Blue_In_AK]

50. We've never had any problem with Alaska,

other than my husband says he will NEVER sit in a middle seat again. That last leg from Seattle to Anchorage is pretty long and the girl in the aisle seat wasn't shy about taking up more than her share of our row. But that's certainly not the airlines' fault.

The music at Westfest was great. My favorites were the Jefferson Airplane folks...they sounded fantastic. I loved that everyone was so generous with their "goodies," too. :smoke:

[OffWithTheirHeads]

48. Oh man! Great pics. Was it at Speedway meadows?

Looks like everyone with whom I spent my mis-spent youth was there and I missed it.

[Blue_In_AK]

52. Yes, it was Speedway Meadows.

And you're right ... there were probably lots of people there from my misspent youth, too, but it was so long ago I wouldn't have recognized them, I'm sure. :rofl: Although my red-headed friend in the photos and I go back to 1968 -- and she hasn't changed a bit.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

70. One of my best friends from "back in the day" was a kid named Jessie

His father printed most of the "Fillmore" posters and Jessie and I used to get high and fuck around with his print equipment, creating things we really needed as young revolutionaries like business cards. I think I saw him in one of your photos but, man, he sure has lost a lot of hair and damn, I sure wish I had all those free posters now!

[Roon]

34. There is someone on yahoo who claims to be from "frisco" california

I think he is BSing because I don't think a person living in San Fransico would say they live in "frisco"..

[CreekDog]

44. That's a tipoff right there

Don't believe a word he says! :rant:

[Throd]

53. And people who refer to the state as "Cali" need to be punched in the throat

[petronius]

63. Except for LL Cool J, of course...

:)

[Throd]

71. He is from the east coast, so we can forgive that.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

38. A Tony Roma's Ribs restaurant and a way-cool Japanese shopping center...

...are directly across the street from each other.

Saratoga & Moorpark, San Jose...one of my FAVORITE places on EARTH.

:toast:

[CreekDog]

42. When Democrats are just not good enough for you

:dilemma:

[AsahinaKimi]

49. When the only good Halloween party

Is in the Nude with just a mask ...

[thatsrightimirish]

54. you hear people complain about chains...

at starbucks

[Starry Messenger]

57. You start off your day in a heavy coat and wool socks

and by the time you get home you are broiling and lunging for shorts and flip-flops. Autumn in the Bay Area.

[ChicagoSuz219]

68. If it was summer, you'd have to keep the coat on... LOL nt

[ChicagoSuz219]

69. You can find Jack London's cabin. nt

[shanti]

73. you layer, layer, layer!

never know what the weather might turn out to be! oh, and don't forget your black leather jacket ;)

[Tikki]

74. All right...we'll give it a try...

We're from SoCal...but here's what we remember:

You might have grown up in San Francisco in the late 70's(early 80's) if:

You know what Mabuhay Gardens is...
'The American In Me' is a patriotic song...
You know someone who was there ..January 14, 1978...
Your dad had a poster of Grace Slick and you had one of Debora Iyall..
You know why the DILS opening for The Clash was so grand.....
You know what a Vat Rat is....
You are aware of what my avatar is....
You know about the house on Delmar St....
You know whose quote this is:"If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve!"
You knew a Nun...
...sure there is more...

We made it up to San Francisco a dozen times to see shows...excellent times..


The Tikkis

[AsahinaKimi]

76. Adding one..

When Your 49ers still can not win enough games to make the playoffs..

[Arugula Latte]

77. You know that the only response to the phrase "Cows? In Berkeley?"

Is: "Mooooooooo."

[tk2kewl]

81. no one gets sarcasm...

my experience: they think you're being mean when you're sarcastic

[BlueCollar]

83. Parallel parking on a hill is a routine maneuver..n/t

[TheCentepedeShoes]

84. I have had only two visits to the city

Both in the summer of 63
One a trip from my uncle's house in Oakland for an all day visit by public transport
(Well...uncle was the bus driver who took us over the bay bridge in the morning and back at night when he returned the bus to the yard in Oakland)
Had a serious ball
That is the most beuuuutiful city I have ever visited
The other was a quick trip over the GG to visit a cousin in Marin Co

[fNord]

85. you grit your teeth when you hear some one say.....

Frisco :mad: