There are certain words and phrases that only a true Southern Californian understands and uses. Take a look at these 10 SoCal words and see which ones you know. Any favorites on this list? If some of these don’t sound familiar, then maybe you haven’t been a Southern Californian long enough. It’s okay, you’ll pick them up in no time.
- Animal Style
flickr/scott beale If you’ve ever ordered off the super secret In ‘N Out menu, you’ve uttered the phrase “Animal Style” before. Order something Animal Style and it will show up with loads of secret sauce smothered on top. Only in SoCal!!
- Gnarly
flickr/vaguely artistic As in, “Those waves are pretty gnarly, dude.” It’s surfer slang for anything that’s extremely awesome or extremely awful. And the word gnarly is just plain fun to say whether you’re a surfer or not.
- Sig Alert
flickr/malingering If you’ve ever driven down a Southern California freeway, at some point you’ve probably been exposed to a Sig Alert. Unique to California, it’s a term used by the California Highway Patrol that refers to “any unplanned event that causes the closing of one lane of traffic for 30 minutes or more.”
- SoCal
TikTak Images Yep, we call it SoCal here. It’s just quicker than saying Southern California.
- NorCal
flickr/attack on memory And our friends to the north are lovingly referred to as NorCal. It doesn’t sound as cool as SoCal, but it gets the point across.
- The 10
flickr/michael r perry If you live in Southern California, you’ve most likely been accused of adding “the” before a freeway designation. The 10, the 5 and the 8 are never referred to as 10, 5, and 8 when you’re from SoCal.
- The Industry
flickr/shinya suzuki Shorthand for the entertainment industry. If you’re in film or TV in Southern California, you’re in “the industry.”
- May Grey
wikimedia commons We may have beautiful weather here, but we still get grey skies, especially in early spring. Once the month of May hits, we have what we call May Grey.
- June Gloom
flickr/allen lee Same goes for June. When those gray skies are still lingering overhead, we complain about June Gloom.
- The Governator
flickr/top rank marketing Even though Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer the Governor of California, we Southern Californians still get a chuckle out of the nickname we all coined for him – The Governator.
I bet a few of those words sound familiar to you if you’re from SoCal. Anything else you’d add to this list? For more Southern California tidbits, here are 11 things Southern Californians do better than anyone else.
flickr/scott beale
If you’ve ever ordered off the super secret In ‘N Out menu, you’ve uttered the phrase “Animal Style” before. Order something Animal Style and it will show up with loads of secret sauce smothered on top. Only in SoCal!!
flickr/vaguely artistic
As in, “Those waves are pretty gnarly, dude.” It’s surfer slang for anything that’s extremely awesome or extremely awful. And the word gnarly is just plain fun to say whether you’re a surfer or not.
flickr/malingering
If you’ve ever driven down a Southern California freeway, at some point you’ve probably been exposed to a Sig Alert. Unique to California, it’s a term used by the California Highway Patrol that refers to “any unplanned event that causes the closing of one lane of traffic for 30 minutes or more.”
TikTak Images
Yep, we call it SoCal here. It’s just quicker than saying Southern California.
flickr/attack on memory
And our friends to the north are lovingly referred to as NorCal. It doesn’t sound as cool as SoCal, but it gets the point across.
flickr/michael r perry
If you live in Southern California, you’ve most likely been accused of adding “the” before a freeway designation. The 10, the 5 and the 8 are never referred to as 10, 5, and 8 when you’re from SoCal.
flickr/shinya suzuki
Shorthand for the entertainment industry. If you’re in film or TV in Southern California, you’re in “the industry.”
wikimedia commons
We may have beautiful weather here, but we still get grey skies, especially in early spring. Once the month of May hits, we have what we call May Grey.
flickr/allen lee
Same goes for June. When those gray skies are still lingering overhead, we complain about June Gloom.
flickr/top rank marketing
Even though Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer the Governor of California, we Southern Californians still get a chuckle out of the nickname we all coined for him – The Governator.
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