Talk:Geography of California

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[edit] Sierra

Zoe: Regarding the plural of Sierra Nevada

A recent article in the Reno Gazette-Journal written by the Nevada State Archivist, Guy Rocha, makes it clear that the usage Sierra Nevadas is incorrect.

I'll edit the article in the following way, which is a compromise between the usage of "Sierra" as plural and "Sierras" as plural.. "The Sierra" is a region, hence is a singular. I will drop the "s" from Sierra Nevadas and ensure that "The Sierra" are used only in the singular, thereby avoiding the controversial plural usage.

There are 19,000 usages of "Sierra Nevadas" on Google, and 184,000 of "Sierras". Your idiosyncratic use of the singular seems to be rather limited.

Double-checking English only search turns up 87,600 hits. -- Zoe

I don't believe that you did the Google search precisely enough...

"Sierra Nevadas are" = 141 hits "Sierra Nevada is" = 3030 hits "Sierras are" = 957 hits "Sierra is" = 16,100 hits

Members of my family have lived in the Sierra Nevada since 1947, so I'm well acquainted with local usage.. It's definitely not Sierra Nevadas. And the State Archivist of Nevada agrees with me.

Let's just stick with the singular "Sierra" and "Sierra Nevada" .. That's probably the cleanest --- we are referring to a region, like "Calfornia" or "New Jersey". I'll clean up all plural references.

I grew up in the Sierra Nevadas and my family has lived there for years, even longer than yours. I have never heard it used the way you use it. I will not allow "Sierra Nevada are". If you can reword it to avoid that, then I'll accept it. -- Zoe

Sure thing.. I'm trying to stomp on all of the plural forms. Please point out if I've missed something.

[edit] Antelope Valley

Added Antelope Valley to Geography. Valley is second largest in state after San Joaquin. It should be mentioned. Also changed the lowest, hottest, point on (earth) to (the America's). The lowest point on earth is the Dead Sea in Israel at -1300 ft. Death Valley is only -282 ft. The hottest point on Earth is in El Azizia, Lybia in Africa. They recorded 136F on 9/13/1922. Death Valley's top was 134F on 7/10/1913.

Hmmmm. . . The Antelope Valley is smaller than the Sacramento Valley, for sure! The geographic size is around that of the state of Connecticut. Populationwise, the Antelope Valley is smaller than either of the two valleys in the Central Valley proper, and is less than the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Pomona Valley, and I think Simi Valley too.

I'd place the AV maybe third in geographic size in CA, and fairly down the list in population still. It's getting lots more new residents of late, but the numbers are still less than other valleys of CA at present. --avnative 09:56, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

The Antelope Valley should be added to the fast-links at the bottom of the page ((California_Geography)) --Anon 08:58, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)