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[MuggerMD]

Bay Area = Northern California USA, the cities that surround the bay like San Francisco/Oakland.

I grew up in the Bay Area, and have lived in Northern California most my life. In my current job I deal with people all over the United States, primarily by emails/instant messaging. We will talk about various projects and I just use the phrase Bay Area when it comes to projects in those areas. I guess I feel a bit pretentious because I assume they know the area I am talking about, but in reality I have know idea if they do.

Like I am sure there are spots on the East Coast that have names associated with them and I would be clueless to where they are, like Martha's Vineyard, what is that Maine area?

Even in Southern California when people say Orange County I kind of think I know where it is, south of Los Angeles? And the Grape Vine? wheres that?

 

[Randolph Freelander]

People know what you mean when you say Bay Area.

People judge you as pretentious despite you using that moniker, not because of it.

 

[TheMan]

I knew the Bay Area referred to SF, but i actually thought SF was in SoCal.

 

[Massicot]

Bay Area refers to Northern California unless context suggests otherwise. It's not pretentious.

Edit: Context such as you are obviously talking to a client in another area with a bay (Chesapeake, etc)

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think most people know what you mean when you say Bay Area, although they might not know all the geography around it. I mean, most people will know San Francisco and Oakland, but I couldn't tell you if Mission Viejo was Bay Area without consulting a map (it turns out that it is most definitely not). Bay Area just defaults to "San Francisco," at least on the West Coast.

Bay Area refers to Northern California unless context suggests otherwise. It's not pretentious.

Edit: Context such as you are obviously talking to a client in another area with a bay (Chesapeake, etc)

Now wait a minute. Bay Area means "area around the bay." I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Eureka, 270 miles away, would not be described by anyone as "Bay Area." The Bay Area is not the entirety of Northern California. It doesn't even mean some of the Central Valley that's within a hundred miles. Here's what Wikipedia shows:

 

[daviyoung]

Whitley Bay? The area around Whitley Bay?

 

[BocoDragon]

Yes, people do know it. I'm from Canada and that's what I immediately think of. Though I am familiar with the tech industry, etc.

 

["God's Beard!"]

It's the same thing as talking about the New York area when you say Tri-State. It's a vague term but people know what you're talking about.

 

[MuggerMD]

Bay Area refers to Northern California unless context suggests otherwise. It's not pretentious.

Edit: Context such as you are obviously talking to a client in another area with a bay (Chesapeake, etc)

Nah I live in the Sacramento Area now and I wouldn't call it the Bay Area.

Edit: On second glance I think what you mean is Bay Area is North CA just like Los Angeles would be South CA

 

[Toki767]

I had someone think I meant Florida once.

Other than that, it's always been taken to mean the San Francisco area.

 

[mlclmtckr]

I know it includes San Francisco and Oakland and that it's north of LA. That's basically it.

 

[HiiiLife]

E40 taught me well.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Nah I live in the Sacramento Area now and I wouldn't call it the Bay Area.

Sacramento = South Oregon
Bay Area = Norcal
LA = SoCal
San Diego = Mexico

 

[gutter_trash]

to me it means the metro area of SF, suburburbs in combination with other munciipalities in proximity such as San Jose, Oakland, Berkley

 

[Zona]

I know what someone means when I read or hear Bay Area online, but I don't think I've ever had reason to use the phrase in real life. Or heard it in real life.

From New York for reference.

 

[HTupolev]

Bay Area refers to Northern California

That's astronomically broader than any interpretation I've ever used.

Bay Area in my mind is, roughly, the counties adjacent to the bay. Even that's a little broad.

 

[therealist]

SF/Oakland/San Jose

 

[DonShula]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";237031428]It's the same thing as talking about the New York area when you say Tri-State. It's a vague term but people know what you're talking about.[/QUOTE]

I'd argue Bay Area is different. There are so many places in this country where the term "Tri-State" area is used. NY is the most famous but there are a ton.

 

[Borgnine]

I was on a phone sex line once and she said she was across the bridge. Apparently she was saying she was in Philadelphia?

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";237031428]It's the same thing as talking about the New York area when you say Tri-State. It's a vague term but people know what you're talking about.[/QUOTE]

Uh tri-state just means three states

 

[gutter_trash]

Tri-State is not comprable because those are three tiny small puny states with no major city,
Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Bay Area is about the metro area surrounding the "Bay" including SF, SJ, Oakland and their burbs

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I know of the Bay Area because of Bay Area Thrash Metal >_>

 

[TimeLike]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";237031428]It's the same thing as talking about the New York area when you say Tri-State. It's a vague term but people know what you're talking about.[/QUOTE]


Not even.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Tri-State is not comprable because those are three tiny small puny states with no major city,
Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

That's totally not the tri-state area.

 

[Hindl]

Tri-State is not comprable because those are three tiny small puny states with no major city,
Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Bay Area is about the metro area surrounding the "Bay" including SF, SJ, Oakland and their burbs

Tri-State most often refers to the area surrounding NYC, New York, NJ, and Connecticut

 

[gazele]

You mean the Yay Area?

Yes, I've heard of it, wonderful place

But to be serious, yes, even people in New York were aware that I meant San Francisco Bay Area when I just said Bay Area

 

[CaptainABAB]

Uh tri-state just means three states

It does not - it refers to parts of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey surrounding NYC. For example, it includes Fairfield county in CT but not the rest.


I'm from CT, so any other tri-state definition is obviously wrong

 

[hydrophilic attack]

It's a kind euphemism isn't it

 

[LOLDSFAN]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";237031428]It's the same thing as talking about the New York area when you say Tri-State. It's a vague term but people know what you're talking about.[/QUOTE]
Indiana Ohio Kentucky?

 

[C.Mongler]

Funny story: I've lived on the east coast basically my whole life, and up until my late teens I thought "the Bay Area" was referring to like the area around Cape Cod, without really any clue what people meant.

But yes, as of like 8 years ago I now know that as the SanFran/Oakland area.

 

[crazyprac]

Indiana Ohio Kentucky?

Who?

 

[Dr.Acula]

Do people know the Golden Horseshoe?

 

[sixteen-bit]

where the techbros live, right?

 

[NoblesseOblige]

As a Michigan native I have no idea what half the things mean that you slow pokes in the west coast say.

 

[Tom Nook]

SF/Oakland/San Jose

This.

 

[MattKeil]

Yes, in general people do know "Bay Area" means the SF area.

I'll blow your mind one further and say that a lot of people on the west side of the country will recognize the nickname "The City" as referring to San Francisco, as well, even if they live in other cities on the West Coast. For a very long time, SF was the only major city west of the Mississippi that could match the East Coast cities in size, culture, and technology, and so if you said "The City" out west, you automatically and obviously meant SF. It wasn't until Los Angeles started to really grow in the early 20th century that SF had any kind of competition in that regard. To this day, it retains that nickname among older folks, and I even knew people who lived in the Seattle area who meant SF when they said "I'm going to visit The City for a few days."

 

[megarockexe]

I don't know where people are referring to when they say Bay Area. And I'm in SoCal. You can't have two locations with the same nickname. It's obviously confusing

 

[gutter_trash]

Tri-State most often refers to the area surrounding NYC, New York, NJ, and Connecticut

so there are more than one Tri-State?

because up here it means VT, NH and ME

 

[MattKeil]

I don't know where people are referring to when they say Bay Area. And I'm in SoCal. You can't have two locations with the same nickname. It's obviously confusing

What's the other location? There is no other prominent location called the Bay Area on the West Coast.

 

[Borgnine]

I know of the Bay Area because of Bay Area Thrash Metal >_>

What about Nardcore?

 

[StrategyFan]

i'm local, so "bay area" disambiguates to "san francisco bay area" for me

but i assume there are other bay areas in the world

 

[bennywhatever]

I live in a Tri-State Area (Evansville, IN area). Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois. I'd imaging a ton of states have this. Heck, near the Cumberland Gap you can see 4 states at once.

Also, I never was all that sure what the Bay Area was. I knew it was either in Florida or California, but that's it. I thought it was in SoCal somewhere.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

It does not - it refers to parts of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey surrounding NYC. For example, it includes Fairfield county in CT but not the rest.


I'm from CT, so any other tri-state definition is obviously wrong

Hey I'm not saying that's not what it means to you, just that it isn't as universally recognized outside of your bubble.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

so there are more than one Tri-State?

because up here it means VT, NH and ME

Not even wiki backs you up on this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-state_area

Tri state is NY-CT-NJ

or NJ-PA-DE (the later is really only for the philly area)

 

[smokeandmirrors]

lol itt people thinking their "tri-state area" is the only one

 

[Atomic Playboy]

It does not - it refers to parts of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey surrounding NYC. For example, it includes Fairfield county in CT but not the rest.


I'm from CT, so any other tri-state definition is obviously wrong

The NY Metropolitan area is the most well-known, but Tri-State is used in dozens of different places around the country, so there's a pretty good chance that if you say it in one region, people will interpret it totally differently than in another region. Wikipedia even has a list. And as a member of a professional group servicing the Pacific Northwest, when I see "Tri-State Area" I'm immediately expecting Washington, Oregon and Idaho (unless it's from out of state, in which case I default to NY).

 

[gutter_trash]

Not even wiki backs you up on this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-state_area

Tri state is NY-CT-NJ

or NJ-PA-DE (the later is really only for the philly area)

 

[Earthbound64]

Massachusetts Bay

The Bay State

California is just a wannabe
(Beverly Hills is named after Beverly, MA)

 

[Matt Attack]

I've seen the area around Tampa referred to as the Bay Area on the news here for most of my life, so there was some confusion for me as I got older.

 

[ClayKavalier]

I lived in SoCal for five years and I had a bunch of people say "Oh, the Bay Area" when I said I went to school in Sacramento. I now live in the Bay Area and I'd consider SF, Oakland, and Marin County to be the Bay. But I work with people who consider the Lamorinda/ Walnut Creek area to be in the Bay Area.

I'm interested now where people outside of California think Silicon Valley is.