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Up and down
Feb. 14th, 2008 09:57 pmI've been quiet lately. Blame being in the closing stages of a long fic (just finished ten minutes ago!) and discovering forums...
I had a debate with my parents at Christmas, and another one with people at work today, about when one says "up" or "down" with respect to directions - e.g. "I'm going down/up to town." "I'm just popping up/down the road for five minutes." "Go down/up the road for 100 yards, then turn left." We have concluded very little logic to it.
I think that a strong physical slope trumps other considerations on the small scale. From our house, it's a steep hill down all the way into the centre of Cowes, so of course we'd talk about going "down to Cowes." ("Daahn Caahz" is the local way of saying this.) If your road is slopey, I suspect "popping up the road" and "popping down the road" would have clear and distinct meanings. In the absence of a slope, it seems to be personal preference. Some people say they would always say "up", others would always say "down", and others opt out and say they'd say "along."
I think that a clear and obvious north-south thing trumps other considerations on the large scale. I'd say "we're going up to Newcastle" or "we're going up to Scotland." Once there, I'd probably talk about going "back down to the island". Would I use "up" and "down" if talking about going from Cornwall to Kent...?
North is "up north" and south is "down south", of course. But one always goes up to Oxford... which is in the south. Presumably Oxford is on the top of a very tall and thin pillar, so it's even more "up" than the north, despite being in the south.
I wonder if Americans see this differently from British people, what with the whole "downtown" thing. (My Dad knew an American who'd arrived at Cheltenham railway station - rather out of the town centre - who got taken by a bus driver in totally the wrong direction, due to said American and the bus driver having totally opposite interpretations of what "downtown" was.) Hmm... American towns are like funnels, that go down towards the centre. British towns must be like cones, with the centre at the top.
I had a debate with my parents at Christmas, and another one with people at work today, about when one says "up" or "down" with respect to directions - e.g. "I'm going down/up to town." "I'm just popping up/down the road for five minutes." "Go down/up the road for 100 yards, then turn left." We have concluded very little logic to it.
I think that a strong physical slope trumps other considerations on the small scale. From our house, it's a steep hill down all the way into the centre of Cowes, so of course we'd talk about going "down to Cowes." ("Daahn Caahz" is the local way of saying this.) If your road is slopey, I suspect "popping up the road" and "popping down the road" would have clear and distinct meanings. In the absence of a slope, it seems to be personal preference. Some people say they would always say "up", others would always say "down", and others opt out and say they'd say "along."
I think that a clear and obvious north-south thing trumps other considerations on the large scale. I'd say "we're going up to Newcastle" or "we're going up to Scotland." Once there, I'd probably talk about going "back down to the island". Would I use "up" and "down" if talking about going from Cornwall to Kent...?
North is "up north" and south is "down south", of course. But one always goes up to Oxford... which is in the south. Presumably Oxford is on the top of a very tall and thin pillar, so it's even more "up" than the north, despite being in the south.
I wonder if Americans see this differently from British people, what with the whole "downtown" thing. (My Dad knew an American who'd arrived at Cheltenham railway station - rather out of the town centre - who got taken by a bus driver in totally the wrong direction, due to said American and the bus driver having totally opposite interpretations of what "downtown" was.) Hmm... American towns are like funnels, that go down towards the centre. British towns must be like cones, with the centre at the top.
