People who live here refer to the east coast (or in some cases, all points east of the Mississippi) as "back east." It doesn't matter if they're actually from the east, or even if they've never been there. It's just always "back east." At first, as a brand new west coaster, I embarrassed myself several times by asking politely in response to the "back east" phrase: "Oh, are you from the east coast originally?" The puzzled looks were very disconcerting.
Vestige of the pioneer and gold-rush eras, I suppose. *grin*
("21" is just a random number I pulled out of a hat. You had to ask. :-P)
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I have asked people in CA who I know have never been to the east, how they could go *back* east if they've never been there before.
LOL!!!!
I have so many relatives in CA that I've grown up hearing this phrase (So, yes it is really there and I know what you are talking about), but I'd never thought of it.
Well, seems to me that easterners often refer to any area between the Mississippi river and the Pacific as "out west". So I suppose when referring to points east of the river it would be more correct to say "in east".
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