Beach? Coast? Shore? Also: is Puget Sound part of the ocean?

jdroth — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:15:51 -0800

Waterfilter (heh) — so, I have a couple of water-related questions born of a drunken debate among friends. First: what is the difference between a coast, a beach, and a shore? Second: is Puget Sound part of the Pacific Ocean, an entirely separate body, or some freakish combination of the two? Finally: when Seattleites go down to the Sound, are they going to the coast, the beach, the shore, or something else? Most of us agree that "shore" is the East Coast term for what we West Coast people call a coast. (Except then why don't Eastcoasters say "East Shore" and "West Shore"?) Maybe "shore" is actually East Coast for beach? What's the difference?

As for Puget Sound: I maintained — steadfastly in my drunken state — that the Sound was not a part of the Pacific Ocean, but rather some entirely separate body of water that opened onto it. Days later, and sober, I can't recall my exact reasoning, but it still feels right. Is it? Doesn't the sound contain brackish water? Brackish, to me, is not equal to oceanic.

This all started when one of my friends said she had gone to the coast while in Seattle. I was confused (and would have been even while sober), and thought she had driven to the coast, as in along the Pacific Ocean. But no, she meant they'd gone down along the Sound someplace. Does the Puget Sound have a coast?

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Beach? Coast? Shore? Also: is Puget Sound part of the ocean?