The Gulf

Twenty years ago, "the Gulf" in news reports, or more often weather reports, referred almost exclusively to the Gulf of Mexico. Operations Desert Sheild and Desert Storm introduced a new use for "the Gulf," to refer to the Arabian Peninsula. After fifteen years of the Persian Gulf being the Gulf, I've found a few headlines and news teasers a bit confusing this week as the media have often referred to the Gulf coast area as simply the Gulf. I had to look at one headline about troops heading to "the Gulf" several times before I realized it was about the hurricane instead of the war.