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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:	The Joy of Lex
Notice:	A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:	THEBAY::SYSTEM

Created:	Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1192
Total number of notes:	42769

214.0. "Where is down?" by ELWOOD::SIMON () Thu Jun 26 1986 15:23

    I often hear:  "I'll meet you down the hall" or "I'll see you down
    the corridor" though the hall or the corridor in question is level.
    This phrase can be said whether or not it is closer to the entrance.
    Or to the secretary.  Or to anything else.
    
    I can understand "up" and "down" when we speak of a city or a map
    (uptown-downtown, up North, etc.).  I came to the US a few years
    ago and this was one of the strangest piece in English for me. 
    So far, nobody I asked has been able to answer.
    
    "Things become curiousier and curiousier"...
    
    Leo

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
214.1	What a downer	OBLIO::SHUSTER	RoB ShUsTeR	`Thu Jun 26 1986 16:10`	1
	The price of down is up.
214.2		THEBAY::GOYETTE	Paul Goyette	`Thu Jun 26 1986 20:22`	2
	But then again, there's "Down East" - maybe that duck flew the wrong way for the winter?
214.3	Down Under where?	DELNI::CANTOR	Dave Cantor	`Thu Jun 26 1986 23:19`	10
	Rub the duck down all over your face and you'll never have to shave again. That's right: The duck stops hair. Dave C.
214.4	ugh	NATASH::WEIGL	breathum via turbo - ergo faster	`Fri Jun 27 1986 09:56`	5
	RE: -.1 QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!! WHAT A DOWNER!!!!!!!!
214.5	Some quick quack quips	PABLO::SLOANE	REPLY TO TOPDOC::SLOANE	`Fri Jun 27 1986 10:03`	25
	Remember: It's easier to get down off a duck than an elephant. And don't forget: A duck that flies upside down quacks up. If this is too much for you, I suggest you go to bed and have some quackers and milk.
214.6	BACK TO THE SUBJECT--	EVER::MCVAY	Pete McVay	`Fri Jun 27 1986 15:10`	2
	The "Upper Nile" is in "Lower Egypt". In fact, the "Upper Kingdom" was in "Lower Egypt" also.
214.7	"Lower" or "Southern"?	JON::MORONEY	Madman	`Fri Jun 27 1986 15:39`	7
	Wait a minute - the part of Egypt where the "Upper Nile" and the "Upper Kingdom" are/were is called UPPER Egypt! Lower Egypt is NORTH Egypt! Or is "Southern" what you meant when you said "Lower"? -Mike who was there P.S. What form of "to be" should I have used where I said "are/were"?
214.8	hills	LATOUR::JMUNZER		`Fri Jun 27 1986 16:30`	5
	Well, at least uphill and downhill mean the same, as in: It's been uphill going. & Things are going downhill.
214.9	Back to the question	ELWOOD::SIMON		`Mon Jun 30 1986 12:28`	6
	Re.: .0 Well, a week after my original posting I see a lot of "quacking" and "ducking" and no real answer. Does anybody really know it? Leo
214.10	DUCK SOUP	NATASH::WEIGL	breathum via turbo - ergo faster	`Mon Jun 30 1986 12:31`	4
	hey - just ask a duck which way is upstream or downstream. they're experts, you know.
214.11	I doubt if anyone knows.	APTECH::RSTONE		`Mon Jun 30 1986 12:47`	11
	With a little sympathy for Leo, I don't believe there IS a good answer, any more than we can ascertain why people want to go _downtown_ or _uptown_. The only possibility that I can see is that in a long, enclosed corridor, it appears to diminish towards a perceived "vanishing point". Hence the corridor may appear to be "closing down" on them. At any rate, if you hear the expression and understand the intent, then the communication was successful. You are likely to find such colloquial expressions almost everywhere.
214.12	Up, down, in, out	PABLO::SLOANE	REPLY TO TOPDOC::SLOANE	`Mon Jun 30 1986 15:44`	3
	I often feel down and out, but I rarely feel up and in. -bs