Do you know why certain people call NJ beaches ‘the Shore?’

I'm a South Jersey girl, don't get me wrong. But, I grew up in Gloucester County. Some people from Atlantic and Cape May counties have literally yelled at me and said that Gloucester County's not "South Jersey". I told them to get a map.

It is South Jersey, it's just the western part of South Jersey. Cumberland, Atlantic, and Cape May counties are the eastern regions of South Jersey.

That was when I began to realize that we're from two totally different worlds, eastern South Jersey and western South Jersey people. I've learned that not everyone from the eastern part of South Jersey calls them "hoagies" like everyone does about 25 minutes up the AC Expressway. I've learned that people are WAY more obsessed with Wawa down here.

I've also realized that people usually stick one specific beach town if they hail from the western portion of South Jersey.

Get our free mobile app

I've observed that, because we live so much closer to South Jersey's beaches here in Atlantic and Cape May counties, we can switch up which one we go to more often than people who live further away tend to get the chance to do.

The one thing I noticed almost immediately upon moving to Atlantic County a few years ago is that nobody says they're "going to the shore." If you're planning a beach day and you live this close, you just say "going to the beach." I've figured out why people that live in South Jersey closer to Philadelphia say they're going "to the shore."

"The shore" is a region of the state, right? Once they're at "the shore," they say they're "going to the beach." That's why there's no reason for those of us that live so close to call it "the shore." It's weird to have to explain to someone not from here why some of us call it "the beach" and some of us call it "the shore," but if you're from here, you automatically understand.