When Nick asks Gatsby what part of the Middle West he is from, Gatsby replies, "San Francisco." What does Nick surmise from Gatsby's answer?

This conversation happens in Chapter 4 as Gatsby is
telling Nick about his past.  There is a huge amount of controversy about this among
scholars who study Fitzgerald and his writing.

Most of the
stuff I have read argues that this is simply an error.  These scholars say that
Fitzgerald made a lot of dumb mistakes like this.  They say that his editors usually
caught them but that his editor was on vacation and this slipped
by.

So I guess that I would say that Nick does not surmise
anything because Fitzgerald did not mean this to be a mistake in Gatsby's story.  Nick
does wonder if Gatsby is pulling his leg, but it's because Gatsby says his family is all
dead, not because of the geographic thing.

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“San Francisco.”

“I
see.”

“My family all died and I came into a good deal of
money.”

His voice was solemn, as if the memory of that
sudden extinction of a clan still haunted him. For a moment I suspected that he was
pulling my leg, but a glance at him convinced me
otherwise.