CULTURE FILES // A Brief History of Beach Lingo

‘Down the Shore’

A beginner’s guide to dropping prepositions, and getting the hell out of town

by Lauren Earline Leonard

EXCERPT //

“Everything dies baby that's a fact

But maybe everything that dies someday comes back

Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty

and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.”

— “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen 

If you visit Philadelphia over a summer weekend, unless you’re in the historic Old City near Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell, where tourists populate the streets, you may be surprised to find the place rather empty. Quiet. Accessible in a way that otherwise only happens during the first few hours of an accumulating snowfall. The exodus begins on Fridays and peaks Saturday mornings as throngs of people pack their cars and the highway to go “down the shore.” Down the shore. A grammatically problematic phrase as inescapable in this town as the Eagles chant. //

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