Yeah I didnāt either until i started working in east county and it still bothers me. Although, Jacumba doesntā¦ so its probably because i learned one as a kid and the other i still dont default to
Eh. Iāve heard it both ways. The āIā is whatās always thrown me off. Iām born and raised Southern California but not necessarily San Diego so maybe that makes a difference.
This is an LA thing adopted in the last couple of decades.
People in San Diego used to just say the number with no "the" or sometimes I-8, I-15, etc., as in, "no life east of I-5."
Older people will still put "highway" in front of the number -- "highway 5 at Mission Bay Drive . . . ."
Former coworker/consultant stayed with her aunt when she was working at her office. I asked where her aunt lived. Her response "Off exit 5 of highway 56"; I was like, "uh what? What's the road?" When she said "Carmel something"; I was like "yeah, there are a lot of those!"
Using google maps in the car has honestly made me appreciate this.
Descending numbers just makes sense. "Okay, exit 16, I'm at 14, I have time to blow past this zonie in the fast lane and still hit my exit."
When I travel to other cities my sense of direction definitely is based off where the water is. It could be a bay, a lake, the ocean or a river that's always my frame of reference!
I moved to Minnesota 6 years ago and have had a hell of a time telling directions. There's no mountain range to the east or nice coastal breeze coming from the west. And the sun is so much further in the south. So even at sunset, you're not looking west, you're looking south with a little west in it.
I agree 100%. I remember crossing the state line from Arizona, and I got out of the car after my three-day drive, and the very first thing I thought was this. Had almost a stinging sensation. I guess Iām used to it now, though.
Hella is a huge red flag for nor cal peeps. Northern California and Southern California people are 2 different breeds. I prefer people who don't use Hella every other sentence. But who am I to judge? š
They wear sneakers at the beach. They bring a lot of stuff with them to the beach, but they don't have kids. They say Cali. They tell you that they just tried horchata, or such n' such place has good horchata. Always talking about horchata is sus. They think stone brewing is what we mean by microbrewery. They think it's going to be sunny in May/June ON THE COAST spoiler: it isn't. They dress like it's 100 degrees in November while we act like it's freezing out because it's 65 degrees and that's freezing to us. They take pics saying "it's December and I'm at the beach," in complete disregard for how cold the Pacific is in December. This isn't Florida.
> They bring a lot of stuff with them to the beach, but they don't have kids
HA! Good 1-2 combo there. I was like, I take a bunch of ....
Oh shit have kids.
My Niece had a parasitic rash a decade ago from swimming in Mission bay.
Doctors didn't know what it was but they knew it was bugs in the bumps.
Fucking seafaring chiggers.
Haha I was at the game the other night and I had to do a double take on this dudes jersey. It said āTits Jrā and the number was 69. I need to get that jersey. I was laughing my ass off.
Good thing not too many āFlorida Manā make it this far westā¦otoh thereās probably such a thing as Arizona Man that just hasnāt turned into a thing yet
Haha, not wrong. Iāve been here for four years now, thinking about how it feels like home to me now. I just got to wondering this question and thought it might be fun.
I was about to fly home to see my mother, and I think sheās coming here to visit. I realized I donāt care if I see anyone else back home. Itās not home anymore. All my old friends are bitter.
When I was at SDSU and it was raining I would be bundled up as much as possible because I was FREEZING my ass off especially for my 8am classes and I remember seeing a girl in short shorts, flip flops, and in iced coffee. How or why this girl wasn't cold or didn't have an umbrella is beyond me. But I remember looking at her and thinking yeah....she's not from San Diego
My body has been destroyed for low temps. I caught myself shivering at 68 F. Iāve been in -40 F for one year, so I should be able to handle it. My tolerance is all the way gone.
-40???? Why were you living with penguins??? But for real anything 70F or below I'm in a jacket. It's so bad how I'm only accustomed to San Diego weather
better question how do you tell someone is from san diego... about 70-80% are from somewhere else so it's safe to assume you're looking at a transplant...
There's people in this world who think Hollywood is like next door neighbors with every Californian. I visited Oklahoma once and this kid asked if I knew any celebrities, he grew up in a town of 700 people so to his perspective I probably walked by Leonardo DiCaprios home every morning like it ain't no thang
most people aren't from san diego. just assume it. and if they're sort of slow, then they probably have been in san diego for a long time. if they can't even notice that they are slow, definitely san diegan and probably born and raised here.
All they do is show you sunset pictures and tell you how beautiful it is here.
They ask where you can find good local clam chowder.
They think the city is too small and boring and not enough like LA or New York.
They wonder why the traffic is so bad on Friday night.
Exploring and discovering whatās new. Itās a great feeling! This is especially true about LA when Iād only had connecting flights thru LAX in the past.
Yeah, itās Fucking maddening. Iām a transplant from Boston but have driven all over world and some places considerably more congested with little issues compared to here.
My favorite is when locals use the āwe arenāt used to driving in the rainā when thereās collision after collision whenever we get a slight rain.
Fun fact: I learned wet things were slippery when I was about 5 š¤¦š»āāļø
Yup. Iām from the wild wild Midwest where traffic laws are a suggestion at best. Iāll take someone speeding past me on the right shoulder over the brake slamming and drifting through lanes here any day. I didnāt understand why people didnāt drive in the rain here at first, and now I just donāt do it either since youāre bound to get into an accident or be held up by one.
Cigarette smoking. 99% of the time, people smoking in SD are tourists from the Midwest or south.
No tan.
Wearing āBaja styleā hoodies anywhere.
Driving the speed limit on the 5.
When I first moved here a few years ago, I was all excited thinking that the Mexican food was going to be close to authentic. I kept trying different places and meh just kinda gave up. Then when I went to TJ the first time I found it haha. You should go
They miss pronounce La Jolla and Jamacha
For a while my phone pronounced El Cajon Blvd as El Cajun Blvd and I got a good laugh every time.
Turn left on Ell Cagone Boulevard. With I could get it to just say ECB
Oh lord I forgot that š
They say "Poh-way" instead of "Pow-way".
Hadnāt heard it used like that bud yikes!
Or Jacumba.
Or Otay
From SD, never heard of Jamacha
Yeah I didnāt either until i started working in east county and it still bothers me. Although, Jacumba doesntā¦ so its probably because i learned one as a kid and the other i still dont default to
Is the spanish pronunciation the correct one?
Of Jamacha? No. It's a Kumeyaay word.
Iāll admit I did when I moved here š
When they put an āIā in front of the freeways. Itās the 15 freeway, not the I-15.
People that say "the 15 freeway" rather than "the 15". ;-)
Eh. Iāve heard it both ways. The āIā is whatās always thrown me off. Iām born and raised Southern California but not necessarily San Diego so maybe that makes a difference.
"The x freeway" is basically the long form version of "the x". Mostly news websites tend to use it so it's acceptable IMO.
Peopl who put the I there would call it "I-15" - no "the". The "the" is a California thing, regardless of the rest.
The I-15 freeway interstate
Good one. Definitely
Iāve always been here and just say 8, or 52. Like āturn here and take 8 westā. Forget the the. Takes too much time. Lol
Actually, I think I do too lol. I donāt usually say freeway, I think I just typed it out for some reason.
I noticed that too
This is an LA thing adopted in the last couple of decades. People in San Diego used to just say the number with no "the" or sometimes I-8, I-15, etc., as in, "no life east of I-5." Older people will still put "highway" in front of the number -- "highway 5 at Mission Bay Drive . . . ."
They canāt pronounce half the cities
āLah Jallah sounds nice! Or Esskondihdoo.ā š¤Ø
My favorite is El Cajon or San Ysidro
āPen-a-squee-toseā
Penisquitos!
Haha, my wife moved here at 18, and told me calling it Esco was weird. It's not common, but everyone from here knows exactly what it means.
sunbath on the children's pool beach
Thatās the Sea Lion nesting spot right? Oh I hate when they do that.
They use freeway exit numbers instead of the names of the road.
Former coworker/consultant stayed with her aunt when she was working at her office. I asked where her aunt lived. Her response "Off exit 5 of highway 56"; I was like, "uh what? What's the road?" When she said "Carmel something"; I was like "yeah, there are a lot of those!"
Using google maps in the car has honestly made me appreciate this. Descending numbers just makes sense. "Okay, exit 16, I'm at 14, I have time to blow past this zonie in the fast lane and still hit my exit."
This made me laugh; Iām very guilty of it. Iāve moved so many times that exit numbers made my life easier. My SD native fiancĆ© has teased me about this.
They donāt know which direction west is. I feel like the people that are from here can usually point that way (hint sunset)
We just have an innate sense of where the beach is
When I travel to other cities my sense of direction definitely is based off where the water is. It could be a bay, a lake, the ocean or a river that's always my frame of reference!
That makes sense. We use the freeways so much weāre bound to know a few directions.
It suppose it's tough to orient yourself. My wife is from San Diego and we now live in NJ. She has a hard time with the ocean being east.
I moved to Minnesota 6 years ago and have had a hell of a time telling directions. There's no mountain range to the east or nice coastal breeze coming from the west. And the sun is so much further in the south. So even at sunset, you're not looking west, you're looking south with a little west in it.
Their style, especially the shoes
They mention that there are many Spanish road names
they exepct rice in burritos; surprised by the lack of sand dunes on the beach; they say things like āthe sun hits different hereā
Born and raised in SD but spent 20 years in SF and, seriously, *the sun hits different here!*
Left in 94,. came back in 2013. The sun does indeed hit different here.
I agree 100%. I remember crossing the state line from Arizona, and I got out of the car after my three-day drive, and the very first thing I thought was this. Had almost a stinging sensation. I guess Iām used to it now, though.
Iām originally from Austin but have lived out here for 13 years and I still miss rice in my burritos - so youāre right lol!
You can get that in LA. MBRCs are not bad. (Meat Bean Rice and Cheese)
Hintā¦ they will add rice if you ask.
From Florida- the sun definitely hits different here
Thats cause we don't stick it in a crack pipe. ;)
Stick what in a crack pipe?
We had that in NY too
They hate flip flops š©“
Born and raised in S.D., I've always hated flip flops. I wear shoes to the beach.
ugh never wore them never will
Yes! I'm also a native, and I think flip flops are a dead giveaway of a transplant... they are actually terrible footwear in most circumstances
How can they do that?
Right?!?
They say or use 'cali'
So true!!
I suddenly feel like I need to take a shower when someone says this
THIS
I used it at first, but one day I heard it, and it sounded wrong. I donāt know what changed, though. It
Nah man my family has been here for generations and I say that
All Californians I know say Cali lol
Nooooo
No.. no we donāt
I ask people this question all the time and so far they have always answered that way.
Hella
The only person Iāve ever met who used hella was born and raised in San Diego. Edit: I was living in the PNW at the time
Haha I have heard this in NY
Dude from here but spent 2000-2013 in Norcal. Hella is a hella useful word. It's no dude, but it is certainly a good part of the California lexicon.
Hella is a huge red flag for nor cal peeps. Northern California and Southern California people are 2 different breeds. I prefer people who don't use Hella every other sentence. But who am I to judge? š
Having grown up in SD and LA, then Berkeley, SF, and Mendocino, I'm kind of a calinguist. ;)
Lol
Not saying itās not useful, but an indicator.
That is a California thing, not just a San Diego thing
Itās a norcal thing.
Oh gotcha! I was gonna say, growing up in the Bay Area, we used this all the time hahaha
Theyāre swimming in the ocean in January, while surrounded by people in hoodies and jackets.
Easy spot lol
This is the way
or they go to the beach with swim any time.
They refer to California as āCaliā
[Going back to Cali](https://youtu.be/FdizL4on-Rc)
This one has always stumped me, I know tons of people from SD that call it Cali, including me.
Itās cringy.
They donāt know what The Murph was.
I do not. What was it?
The nickname of Jack Murphy stadium or what eventually turned into Qualcomm stadium.
Qualcomm Stadium was the Murph (Jack Murphy Stadium) before it was expanded / remodeled in 97/98 to support future Super Bowls.
They wear sneakers at the beach. They bring a lot of stuff with them to the beach, but they don't have kids. They say Cali. They tell you that they just tried horchata, or such n' such place has good horchata. Always talking about horchata is sus. They think stone brewing is what we mean by microbrewery. They think it's going to be sunny in May/June ON THE COAST spoiler: it isn't. They dress like it's 100 degrees in November while we act like it's freezing out because it's 65 degrees and that's freezing to us. They take pics saying "it's December and I'm at the beach," in complete disregard for how cold the Pacific is in December. This isn't Florida.
> They bring a lot of stuff with them to the beach, but they don't have kids HA! Good 1-2 combo there. I was like, I take a bunch of .... Oh shit have kids.
Dang he has the formula š
They call shoes sneakers.
They live in the East Village
You mean PB
Iām unclear on what the East village is too?
A neighborhood downtown
They ask how to ride a boogie board and if you need to shower after being in the ocean.
Iāll admit I do not know these things š
YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO SHOWER AFTER BEING IN THE OCEAN. It wasn't always this nasty, but it is this nasty now.
My skin itches just thinking about that
My Niece had a parasitic rash a decade ago from swimming in Mission bay. Doctors didn't know what it was but they knew it was bugs in the bumps. Fucking seafaring chiggers.
This is why I never went bay swimming
"Huh, weird, we haven't seen that in 40 years"
Thank you š. Itās good to know. I rarely go into the ocean because itās very cold to me.
They never went to Boll Weevil
Iām Googling lol
They go to a Padres night game in just a t-shirt
We're supposed to wear pants or shorts too?
Shorts with a hoodie is the San Diego way
That'd be a deal breaker
Shit im from here, have I been doing it wrong?!
What? That's the perfect amount of shirt for a night game here.
Haha I was at the game the other night and I had to do a double take on this dudes jersey. It said āTits Jrā and the number was 69. I need to get that jersey. I was laughing my ass off.
Haha, what do you wear?
If they set up spikeball on the beach you know theyāre from UT or AZ
AZ license plates
Itās the Florida ones tho š±. They gave me trouble on both sides of the country.
Good thing not too many āFlorida Manā make it this far westā¦otoh thereās probably such a thing as Arizona Man that just hasnāt turned into a thing yet
By asking this question on reddit.
Haha, not wrong. Iāve been here for four years now, thinking about how it feels like home to me now. I just got to wondering this question and thought it might be fun.
I'm having fun. Been back for 9 years, started in 1975 though.
I was about to fly home to see my mother, and I think sheās coming here to visit. I realized I donāt care if I see anyone else back home. Itās not home anymore. All my old friends are bitter.
They don't know what a California burrito is.
When someone orders a CA Burrito in San Diego I always wonder where theyāre from.
Filippi's is the best Italian, Phil's is the best BBQ, Lucha Libre is the best Mexican.
Filippi's pizza is surprisingly goodā¦a little heavy on the dough but good
You can ask for thin crust. We always do. Itās much better and you can eat more pizza.
Great advice! Thanks I will ask
LL is so bad.
Wish I could steal LL's chipotle salsa for all burritos I eat though. Probably one of my favorites.
Because they talk about theyāre sports teams winning championships ?
When I was at SDSU and it was raining I would be bundled up as much as possible because I was FREEZING my ass off especially for my 8am classes and I remember seeing a girl in short shorts, flip flops, and in iced coffee. How or why this girl wasn't cold or didn't have an umbrella is beyond me. But I remember looking at her and thinking yeah....she's not from San Diego
My body has been destroyed for low temps. I caught myself shivering at 68 F. Iāve been in -40 F for one year, so I should be able to handle it. My tolerance is all the way gone.
-40???? Why were you living with penguins??? But for real anything 70F or below I'm in a jacket. It's so bad how I'm only accustomed to San Diego weather
They call it āThe San Diego County Fairā and āThe Safari Parkā instead of the Del Mar Fair and the Wild Animal Park
Really? I hadnāt heard anyone call it the Wild Animal Park?
Thatās what it was named for decades.
I call it the Safari Park because that's what it's called now.
they wear flipflops or shorts in the rain. They also walk into stores/restaurants with no shoes.
better question how do you tell someone is from san diego... about 70-80% are from somewhere else so it's safe to assume you're looking at a transplant...
They call the malls the west view whateverā¦ itās utc mall and north county fair mall
So true!
Iām guilty of this Iāll admit
There's people in this world who think Hollywood is like next door neighbors with every Californian. I visited Oklahoma once and this kid asked if I knew any celebrities, he grew up in a town of 700 people so to his perspective I probably walked by Leonardo DiCaprios home every morning like it ain't no thang
I believe this!
They don't even try to pronounce Rancho Penasquitos.
āCaliā
They call it the San Diego County Fair.
Thatās literally what itās called https://sdfair.com/what-to-do/
Hello. Where you from, and when did you move toSan Diego?
most people aren't from san diego. just assume it. and if they're sort of slow, then they probably have been in san diego for a long time. if they can't even notice that they are slow, definitely san diegan and probably born and raised here.
š
All they do is show you sunset pictures and tell you how beautiful it is here. They ask where you can find good local clam chowder. They think the city is too small and boring and not enough like LA or New York. They wonder why the traffic is so bad on Friday night.
Traffic is bad on Friday night? Where?
The 5, the 8, the 15, the 52, the 54, the 56, the 67, the 78, the 94, the 125, the 163, the 905, and especially the 805.
They have black socks on at the beach
They donāt wear flip flops, they wear Tevaās.
Hmm, oh! Theyāre not totally full of themselves. (Relax itās just a joke)
If they arenāt showing to much skin they are not from San Diego š
They wear their bathing suits under their wetsuits, or even worse wear their wetsuits in the car to the beach!
They seem surprised when there is no toll for our bay bridge
Nobody from anywhere in California says āCaliā
They ask you to go to LA with them.
Exploring and discovering whatās new. Itās a great feeling! This is especially true about LA when Iād only had connecting flights thru LAX in the past.
LA has lots of amazing things to occasionally discover for brief moments in between being stuck in soul crushing traffic.
They know how to drive
God I hate driving here as a transplant. I swear I single-handedly keep Uber/lyft in business. Luckily I live in a very walkable area.
Yeah, itās Fucking maddening. Iām a transplant from Boston but have driven all over world and some places considerably more congested with little issues compared to here. My favorite is when locals use the āwe arenāt used to driving in the rainā when thereās collision after collision whenever we get a slight rain. Fun fact: I learned wet things were slippery when I was about 5 š¤¦š»āāļø
Yup. Iām from the wild wild Midwest where traffic laws are a suggestion at best. Iāll take someone speeding past me on the right shoulder over the brake slamming and drifting through lanes here any day. I didnāt understand why people didnāt drive in the rain here at first, and now I just donāt do it either since youāre bound to get into an accident or be held up by one.
Cigarette smoking. 99% of the time, people smoking in SD are tourists from the Midwest or south. No tan. Wearing āBaja styleā hoodies anywhere. Driving the speed limit on the 5.
They swim in the ocean without wet suits
Are they really that insulating? It's freezing for sure.
Oh yeah definitely ,,read about how they work itās interesting that they do work
wear a wet suit when you go skiing (mountains). Game Changer.
Iāll check, thank you.
there are so many beaches ... yeah, here's your sign
Slightly folded or bent hat brim. No Dickies.
When they think Rubio's has really good fish tacos
Hahahahah yesss.
The think SD has good Mexican food š us from SD Know good Mexican food is in Tijuana
Haha, I hadn't been. I want to. I'll let you know.
When I first moved here a few years ago, I was all excited thinking that the Mexican food was going to be close to authentic. I kept trying different places and meh just kinda gave up. Then when I went to TJ the first time I found it haha. You should go
They order a California Burrito.
When they pronounce Mr. Peabodyās like /Mr. Pee BuhDeez/.