Dunno why, but I’ve been seeing way too many references lately to “Cali” as short for California.
Some of them from Southern Californians, who should know better.
I do not live in Cali.
Cali is a city in Colombia.
I don’t live in NoCal either. If y’all down south want to call it SoCal, that’s your privilege. NoCal is everywhere except California. NorCal is OK, I guess, if you really must. (Although people in Chico and Eureka and Healdsburg would say that I don’t live in Northern California anyway…but let’s not go there.)
Cali? Ugggh.
I was pleased to see this when I looked up “Cali”–from the Urban Dictionary:
*The first definition has two parts, the first of which is the city in Colombia, the second of which is:
2) An annoying name for California.
*The third definition–after one for the city in Colombia–suffers from urban spelling, but:
A name that non-native Californian’s use when refering to California and trying to seem like a real Californian.
Typical of an East coaster
*The fourth:
A word for “California” used by no one who has ever lived in California. Use “Cali” and you will immediately sound like a hick.
Sigh. Unfortunately, there are people in the bottom half of the state who have used that term. Not many, perhaps, and the last part of that definition may still apply.
This being the Urban Dictionary, definitions go on and on (and get worse and worse)…
If you live in California, and find anything longer than two syllables and four letters just too overwhelming to deal with, a couple of suggestions: Move to Utah. I would mention Iowa and Ohio, but those are each three syllables.
I’ve never heard that in California (and I’m from Southern California). Once I left the state, I heard it constantly. “Are you for Cali?” “Are you a Cali man?”
If you’ve never lived anywhere but California, it’s surprising to understand the perspective people have about the state (both the inflated good and the really negative). My wife and I have had long conversations about this 🙂
I was amazed to see “Cali” from California residents, but of course lots of people immigrate… And I used to travel enough to hear a fair amount of out-of-state perspectives. Including the one that so many of us/them seem to get about any state: “Oh, you must know X, she/he also lives in…”
I’ve had people assume that I probably drop down to “nearby” LA every week or two, for example. But I suspect people make similar assumptions about most other states. For a long time, I said California would make a great nation but was ungovernable as a state. I’m beginning to think/hope that I might be proved wrong on the second half of that.