Geographically Speaking, We Are Grammatically Incorrect

A gentleman walked up to me as I was working the hotel front desk with a map of what we, here in Minnesota, call the North Shore.  He was curious if we carried any maps of the “South Shore”.  I have never heard anyone ask for a map of the South Shore.  I told him that pretty much any map of Duluth would work for practical purposes and he seemed satisfied with my answer and walked away.

But, his question left me unsettled.  He sort of had a point.  If we are the North Shore, then shouldn’t there be a south shore?

And really, North Shore of What?

Lake Superior?

Last time I looked at a map, CANADA was the North (and most of the East) Shore of Lake Superior.

At best, we are the West Shore and Wisconsin and Michigan are the South Shore.

I get that “West Shore” isn’t likely to evoke the same sense of poetic visualization that “North Shore” does and I understand that we are trying to imply “the section of shoreline of Lake Superior that is north of Duluth” but that is way too wordy and again, does not have the scenic mental imagery attached to the phrase.

But, it IS still Grammatically Incorrect.

Geographically Speaking, that is.