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Born in the middle of the previous century, I grew up reading, hearing about, and visiting the Maine coast — frequently referred to as “the rugged, rock-bound coast of Maine.” Suddenly, however, “the Maine coast” has disappeared! The trend among modern media meteorological mavens is apparently to refer, instead, to “the coastline.” They generally seem incapable of just calling it “the coast.”
“Coastline,” by definition, is “a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake” — a very narrow and specific actual line formed by land and water, while “coast” is an area or region. So when it’s going to “rain along the coastline,” does that mean it will be a literal sheet of water irrigating perhaps an area a foot or so wide, but (in Maine’s case) thousands of miles long?
Does “coastline” sound more romantic or dramatic in the minds of weather forecasters? If they’re talking about the coast, why can’t they just say “the coast”?
Michael P. Gleason
Bangor