General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How about some appreciation for the man as he rides off into the sunset [View all]Hermit-The-Prog
(33,328 posts)Your objection could be region-specific. Those whom I've heard use it with no offense intended could likewise be a regional subset of Californians.
I worked in a service station during my high school years (about the time Jerry Brown was in college) and there were some customers who made an annual trip from California to that little shop for tires and vehicle check-up. (One couple were related to the shop owner and the others came by invitation, the first time). They were the first people from California I ever met. Their speech was strange to my ears, but they were very willing to share their experiences travelling that giant state. It was fascinating to me to hear first-hand tales of the variety of landscape and people it has. At the time, the farthest I had travelled was Cincinnati to Miami, and never as far west even as the Mississippi. These visitors pretty much destroyed the local view that California was just a land of hippies. (This was late '60s, early '70s).
In college and later work environments, I met more people from California from time to time, but, of course, none ever impressed like those first. Times change and so does objectionable speech. As I said earlier, "Cali" was used by these folks and none used it with intent to disparage the place or the people.