down the shore

1.) where folks from phila. and southeastern pa go during the summer.

2.) the jersey sh-r-.
rocky: “yo, where you goin’ this weekend?”

adrian: “i’m goin’ down the sh-r- to my condo in wildwood.”

mick: “just watch out for all the b-ms parked in traffic on the schuylkill and the acx.”
what people here in new jersey call going to the beach. what some people don’t get, however, is that this is more the term used to discribe the trip taken while going “down the sh-r-” from your home in an inland county or town. the drive to whichever beach town you are going to be spending time in is going down the sh-r-, but once you’re there you simply go to the beach.
now that we’re down the sh-r-, let’s head to the beach.
what everyone from jersey and pennsylvania calls going to the beach. don’t tell me people for jersey don’t say this cause i lived here all my life and trust me 97% of the people call it the sh-r-. the other 3% being transplants from other states. there is nothing wrong with calling it the beach. honestly i like the term beach better but it doesn’t matter. la playa, sh-r-, beach. whatever you call it it is f-cking awesome.
californian: dude let’s go to the beach
jersian: yo let’s go down the sh-r-
mexican: porque no vamos ir a la playa?
this term is used by people in the pennsylvania, new jersey, delaware “tri-state area” to describe the general vicinity of the coastal barrier islands in relation to inland locations. people not familiar with the barrier islands of the mid-atlantic coast are often confused by this term. “why not just call it ‘the beach’?” they say. this question reflects ignorance of the mid-atlantic geography where the barrier islands form pleasant beach-fronts and bay-fronts both. because of the narrow shape of these islands, one can easily access the beach and the bay, where there are different views and recreation activities available. so, when someone from, for example, philly travels to the coast, they are not necessarily going to “the beach”. they are going “down the sh-r-“. when they arrive to the barrier island and they roll down the windows and smell that salty breeze, they are “down the sh-r-“.
phone conversation:
“hey, are you going down the sh-r- this weekend?”
“well, actually, i’m down the sh-r- right now! but yeah, i’ll be down here this weekend too! maybe we can go to the beach. maybe we can go to the bay for a bit and watch the sunset. maybe we could go to the boardwalk, get some salt water taffy, fries and pizza perhaps. play some mini-golf, you know. whatever we decide to do, it’s gonna be great, cause we’ll be down the sh-r- the whole time!”
if you are from new jersey the term “down the sh-r-” means going to a sh-r- town for more than just the beach. if you are simply going to the beach, you say “going to the beach”. if you are going “down the sh-r-” you are going to hang out on the boardwalk and hit up the bars at night.
let’s go down the sh-r- to go to the beach, hang out on the boardwalk, and hit up bar a at night.
down the sh-r- is the term used by people from new jersey – specifically northern jersey (away from the sh-r- area) – to describe going to the beach areas. since new jersey’s beaches are all in the central and southern parts of the state rather than the northern part of the state, which is blocked by new york city so there are no beaches, going “down the sh-r-” means you’re heading south. that’s where the “down” part comes from. people who live near the beach wouldn’t say “down the sh-r-” because they’re already living in that area. once at the sh-r-, if you’re going to the beach you would just say “i’m going to the beach”. but the term “down the sh-r-” actually just refers to heading south towards the sh-r- points on the new jersey coast, or to the general sh-r- area, because the jersey sh-r- is more than beaches. it is also made up of boardwalks (with rides, food, water parks), bays, lagoons, many restaurants, etc. so if you are just going to hang out in those areas, you would probably just say “down the sh-r-“.
girl from north jersey: i’m going down the sh-r- for july fourth weekend!

guy from north jersey: cool! what are you guys planning on doing down there?

girl from north jersey: you know, go to the beach, hang out on the boardwalk, go on some rides. the usual stuff.
when you go to the sh-r-, mainly said if you live in northern jersey. if you actually live dts, then you just say “im going to the sh-r-“, because your already down there.
(it is not called the beach)
girl: “lets go party it up down the sh-r-!”

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