On the other hand don’t call University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley everyone calls it Cal. That was news to us East Coasters!
Annapolis bit reminds me how many say, “in the OC.”
So I should stop referring to UCSF as University of Cali at Frisco? 
A tiny rant back at you.“Noone” is TWO words–should be “no one”. If this is your biggest problem of the day, consider yourself fortunate.
I’m a current San Diego County resident and former resident of Orange County (SoCal), Marin County (NorCal), and Yolo County (Central Valley), and I agree completely about “Cali.” That’s a total abomination. That’s like calling Arizona “Ari” or calling Washington “Washi” or calling Florida “Flori.” Wrong, wrong wrong and wrong!
Yes, yes, and yes. Cali always seems to signify a wannabe. Seems like I’ve mostly only heard that the last 10 years or so. San Francisco is never Frisco and San Fran doesn’t sound right either. It used to be referred to often as ‘The City’ and you can still see that on the Warriors uniforms (at least one of the combos they use). Never once growing up did we ever refer to Cal as UC Berkeley. It was either Cal or Berkeley. All the other ones are UC Something and Cal is California, the University of California, or Berkeley. One exception to that is no one ever says UC Los Angeles - it’s like UCLA is the only name it ever goes by. Did anyone ever use “the OC” before that TV show?
And I just learned the correct way that Caltech is supposed to be abbreviated. Not that I’ll ever need to use it in a sentence often.
And I like how the OP worked in oranges and almonds because the rest of the country would refer to us as the land of fruits and nuts, and not in a complimentary way. But we still take pride in it.
I’m a Michigan transplant who came to California in in 1990 or so, but my husband is a Californio, descended from members of the Portola expedition in the 1770s, so his native Californian status dates back to the time when Alta California was still part of Mexico.
We never say Cali, but we occasionally type or text it as an abbreviation.
Dude? Yeah, we say dude, including to females, animals and inanimate objects. 
Probably more people on these forums have heard Annapolis as the location of the Naval Academy than as the capital of Maryland.
Sorry, it’s easier to type Cali. I’m sticking with it here, though I never say it IRL.
It’s even easier just to type CA.
“Did anyone ever use “the OC” before that TV show?”
I didn’t and I still don’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever called my home state Cali. I do say dude an annoying amount of times in a day. It’s the perfect word, it can be a greeting, a question, an exclamation, a lament… perfect for any situation.
@4kids4us I’m sorry a compatriot of mine didn’t know what state Maryland was in, our public schools are awful, especially if you consider what we pay in taxes. While looking for colleges with my daughter and her boyfriend they did not know Connecticut was a state, and thought it was someplace in the south, they asked me what state Washington DC was in… omg. These are honors students, apparently our state isn’t big on geography.
I always enjoy it when people ask what sites they should see in Los Angeles… like what do you mean exactly? Where are you visiting? Los Angeles is 70 miles wide, there really is no “Los Angeles”.
Never, never eat Mexican food outside of the west and southwest. Just don’t do it.
Re: the OC - Maybe I’m wrong, but I seem to remember hearing it when we moved to Riverside and got our allegedly lowlife 909 phone numbers. Lowlife as in “Ew, you live in the 909. Sorry, dude.”
Apparently, the “the” is a SoCal thing. When we lived in Oakland and Marin, we got ripped on for appending “the” to freeway numbers. See, down here, we take the 60 to the 91. Up there, you take 101 to 680.
We heard or read “the OC” before the show.
As in, “I’d rather be in the OC,” which is pretty darned true. Any of the coastal areas, sigh.
Btw, growing up in the northeast, a California burger meant with added lettuce, tomato, mayo.
Ha ha…I think this must be a personal pet peeve. My name on this board must annoy you every time I post! If it makes you feel any better…I can trace my California roots back to the 1850s. The Prouty family came in covered wagons and at one time were some of the largest landowners in Nor Cal. We also are 4 generations of proud USC Trojans! Fight On!
Call it whatever you wish. It will always be my home. [=
@ucbalumnus , funny you mention the Naval Academy - my native Californian husband is a grad. When he was leaving for college and people asked where he was going, most had never even heard of it. That has changed a bit in recent years, but even those who at least have heard of the school now, have no idea it’s in Annapolis. Of course, here on these forums, that’s probably not the case, but in the US? Definitely. And (not directed at you) please don’t ever call the Midshipmen “cadets.” Cadets go to West Point.
@socalmom007 WRT D17 and college, I’m going to be spending the next four years telling people, “No, she is not going to San Diego State, she is going to Univ of San Diego.” Big difference. I had to laugh b/c over the weekend, I had a conversation with someone about where D is going to college. She said, “Oh, that’s the Catholic one, right?” I said, “yes” surprised she had heard of it and knew it was Catholic. She then goes on to say that her friend’s D goes to USD on a lacrosse scholarship. That surprised me…didn’t know USD had lacrosse, which I said to her. So she’s telling me she will have to introduce me to the girl’s parents as they lives here locally, etc. Then she pulls out her phone and shows me a picture of the girl - I started laughing when I saw that the girl’s sweatshirt said SDSU! Then it all made sense b/c SDSU does have lacrosse, in fact, one of D17’s classmates is going there on a lax scholarship! So here I was surprised that my friend knew USD is a private Catholic college, but she still seemed to confuse it was SDSU!
Lookingforward: The Philadelphians I know (born and bred) often say “Philly”. But agree about Cali.
What is the issue with CalTech? Is that not accepted shorthand?
Frisco always bugged me the most.
:(( “What matters to you, and why?” Cali Cali Cali Cali Cali Cali Cali …
We called Orange County cities by their city names: Long Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington, Newport, Laguna, Anaheim, Dana Point, Buena Park. Who calls it “the OC”??? X(
Yes and we say, take the 8, to the 5, to the 56, to the 15, to the 78.
Born, raised and have never lived anywhere else Ca resident. Just say no to Cali. I don’t know any longtime resident who uses that term. I do remember back in the day we used Calif in our mailing address. I can usually peg a tourist if they call it Cali. My D had a friend who visited from the Midwest and it grated our ears to keep hearing the word Cali.
Lived on the central coast for 30 years and I’ve never heard it referred to as CeCo. I’m not sure if that was meant in jest.
I went to school in Northern Ca and we used to refer to it as the city. I think now my kids call it SF. Los Angeles is LA.
My kids are definitely weak in geography. My supposedly high IQ D thought Mississippi was near Minnesota.
I don’t use the word Dude but some of my kids use it.
Edited to add - @shoot4moon - My sister lived in Hanford many years ago. Ca is more than just the coasts.