Thread: Up = Down?

Are these up/down sentences identical in meaning:

We will drive four more miles up the highway.
vs.
We will drive four more miles down the highway.

... and another example:

She lives two blocks up the street.
vs.
She lives two blocks down the street.

Originally Posted by MasterAdmin

Are these up/down sentences identical in meaning:

We will drive four more miles up the highway.
vs.
We will drive four more miles down the highway.

... and another example:

She lives two blocks up the street.
vs.
She lives two blocks down the street.

For Americans, the meanings are essentially the same, in most places.

But...

In big cities, such as New York, that are laid out on a grid, with numbered streets (44th street, 43rd street, 42nd street, etc.)... then "up" implies going north, and "down" implies south, usually... or following the streets in sequence ("up" = 45, 46, 47, 48 +) ("down" = 48, 47, 46, 45 -)

Originally Posted by Dobry

Originally Posted by MasterAdmin

Are these up/down sentences identical in meaning:

We will drive four more miles up the highway.
vs.
We will drive four more miles down the highway.

... and another example:

She lives two blocks up the street.
vs.
She lives two blocks down the street.

For Americans, the meanings are essentially the same, in most places.

But...

In big cities, such as New York, that are laid out on a grid, with numbered streets (44th street, 43rd street, 42nd street, etc.)... then "up" implies going north, and "down" implies south, usually... or following the streets in sequence ("up" = 45, 46, 47, 48 +) ("down" = 48, 47, 46, 45 -)

"For Americans, the meanings are essentially the same, in most places."
Yes siree Billy-Bob. As for New York city... who gives the hoot 'bout them yankees

Eh. They're roughly equivalent. Sometimes you'll have someone who will become ornery with you:
Two guys live in Chicago...
"So did you go down to Detroit last week?"
"What do you mean "down!?" Detroit is north of here!"

That sort of thing. So yeah, you can squabble about it if you want, but in probably 90%+ cases people won't even notice what you said. It's just understood.

Originally Posted by MasterAdmin

Are these up/down sentences identical in meaning:

We will drive four more miles up the highway.
vs.
We will drive four more miles down the highway.

... and another example:

She lives two blocks up the street.
vs.
She lives two blocks down the street.

I case of highway or street, it does not really matter: you can use either up or down
It does matter on the large geographic scale: for example, if you are in the USA, you can say up in Canada but down in Mexico
There are also such terms as downtown ( center on the city, business part of the city) and uptown (outskirts of the city, peripheral area).

Thanks everybody!

In the case with streets that are on a hill and go from a higher level to the lower level, I used to think that "up the street" was going in a direction where the street elevation becomes higher and "down the street" is just the opposite. But it looks like up/down does not relate to elevation here

Also, nice info about downtown/uptown.

MA, I think you may have extrapolated a little too far. I myself would have a hard time using "down the street" if I were referring to something higher up on a sloping street.

Originally Posted by chaika

MA, I think you may have extrapolated a little too far. I myself would have a hard time using "down the street" if I were referring to something higher up on a sloping street.

Up the street or down the street can be used when there are no hills at all. But naturally, you would say up the hill or uphill (on the road) when you are going up, and down the hill or downhill, when you are going down.

I did not think there were any questions about that

Originally Posted by charlestonian

Originally Posted by chaika

MA, I think you may have extrapolated a little too far. I myself would have a hard time using "down the street" if I were referring to something higher up on a sloping street.

Up the street or down the street can be used when there are no hills at all. But naturally, you would say up the hill or uphill (on the road) when you are going up, and down the hill or downhill, when you are going down.

I did not think there were any questions about that

Agreed... if everyone can make sense of that English explanation.

Just joking with you Charlestonian... good explanation.

As far as I know, the meaning is connected with south/north directions. For example, if you say "down the street" it means to the south direction and up - otherwise.

Originally Posted by Chuvak

As far as I know, the meaning is connected with south/north directions. For example, if you say "down the street" it means to the south direction and up - otherwise.

You wrote: "As far as I know..." Well, you know it wrong. Like Dobry said, it may apply to New York streets but in other cities, it does not really matter: people will not try to figure out where is north or south, just to say up or down the street

Originally Posted by charlestonian

Originally Posted by Chuvak

As far as I know, the meaning is connected with south/north directions. For example, if you say "down the street" it means to the south direction and up - otherwise.

You wrote: "As far as I know..." Well, you know it wrong. Like Dobry said, it may apply to New York streets but in other cities, it does not really matter: people will not try to figure out where is north or south, just to say up or down the street

Yes.

As the matter of fact, it is frequently used not to show direction (north or south, west or east)) but rather, distance to something:

It is just down/up the road (it is not far).
It is way down/up the road (it is far).

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