“Will you be up here over the holidays?”
“No, I probably won’t be down for awhile.”
My cousin and I used to have conversations like this when she lived in Tucson. I say “up” when someone is going north, as if we’re all on a giant wall map. Other people say “up” when they’re headed to higher elevation.
Tucson is south of Phoenix, but it’s at a higher elevation. If you were headed to Phoenix from Tucson, would you say you’re going up to Phoenix or down to Phoenix?
I don’t think one is more correct than the other, but the language geek in me is curious what everyone else says.
—
Down for south, regardless of elevation, but I’ve never thought about it until you made me geek out, too!
Yay for geeking out!
This reminded me of a funny incident I wrote about with reference to the word ‘up’ except that it was in the local language. ‘Upar’ which means ‘up’ was used to indicate the forward area where troops were stationed and also the apartment above. This resulted in some confusion and a hilarious moment.
That does sound confusing!
Hmmm, good question. I think I’d probably say going down to Phoenix. In the town I grew up in, we always said, “going up the line to the mall” – meaning, we driving on the one main highway, heading to the shopping center. However, the mall was technically South of us, and at about the same elevation, so go figure. Language is fun! :)
“Up the line” is an interesting phrase too. Don’t think I’ve heard that before.