down town

[topman9thnov]

why do people go down town and not up town.?

[Nether Edge]

"Down market"? Perhaps down scale of value.
Anyway, according to Petula Clark, downtown is where all the lights are bright waiting for you tonight.

[Quizmonster]

Wasn't there a pop song a few years back about 'uptown girls'? People in the east side of London speak about going 'up' to the West End, I believe. And - based on coaching and railway timetables, journeys to London used to be called 'up' journeys, whilst those leaving the capital were 'down' ones.
The 'down' idea probably started life with a literal meaning...ie moving from a higher suburb to the lower centre of a town. Most towns grew on riverbanks or shorelines, so just about any building development that came about would have been higher.

[Quizmonkey]

Downtown and uptown have specific meanings in the US which haven't really been taken over by the UK. Downtown is the central part of a city, where the financial centre, theatres, main shopping etc are; uptown is usually north of the centre, ie away from the bustle.

[andy-hughes]

Stoke, where I live, is made up of six towns - Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton Longton, and Hanley. You always go 'down' to the first five, but you always go 'up' to Hanley - or as we say "Goin' up 'anley duck ..."

[stewey]

Sort of like in Canada, where people living in Ontario going to be traveling to, say, B.C. or Alberta are going "out" west. However, if they are traveling to Nova Scotia or Newfoundland they are going "down" east.

[Quizmonster]

I've never been there, Andy, so do your up/down differences around Stoke bear out what I suggested in my earlier response? In other words, is Hanley actually 'uphill' relative to the rest?

[stylinsam]

ooooo andy hughes i didnt no you were from stoke-on-trent where about?

[stylinsam]

quizmonster hanley is up a very slight hill, but nothing major. lol its just wat we say around here ! i live in goldenhill which is near tunstall which is down, but even if im going to burlem which is up i still say down lol its confusing!

[CheekyChops]

I live in Hanley but 'cos I live slightly downhill from the town centre, I still say 'I'm goin up Hanley...' (I don't say duck, lol)

[andy-hughes]

Hello stylinsam -

I currently live in Hartshill, but on Thursday we move to Trentham.

I work in Hanley centre, so I shall continue my daily journey 'up Hanley ...'.

[Clanad]

I take note of the expressed opinion that the euphemisms are not well known in Britain and have prior knowledge that the most likely candidate for the origin of both uptown and downtown is the early development and direction of new construction on the island of Manhattan, New York City. As the city developed it could only expand in one direction, which, obviously was "up". That is, towards the higher or northerly end of the island. This became known as the more desirable area in which to build a new business as well as new residences. Those doing so then could only refer to "lower Manhattan" as, you guessed it, "downtown". Other cities latched on to the descriptions but it still, apparently, remains an Americanism... (The first print edition of the terms was ca 1825-1830). Other descriptions are now almost as ubiquitous, i.e., "Upper East Side" and "Midtown Manhattan"...

[laura_bo]

I come from Somerset and if i was meet someone in town me and all my friends would say 'up town' never down town. Don't know why but just how its always been so it not just down town.

[Count_Emmup]

When did it go up to six? I live in Crewe and all the "Clay-eads" I know (and the Sentinel) allus refer to it as the "Five towns".

PS I were oop 'Anley duck a'Sunday.

BTW the "Duck" has no connection at all with avian amphibians, but has its origins in Anglo Saxon 'Dukas', a term of respect akin to sir.

God, all them big words'll baffle Clay'eads!

[BABY BUNDY]

Very simple:

Head North - Your going Uptown

Head South - Your going Downtown

Heading East or West - Your going Intown

Upintown or Downintown - My guess is that your spinning around like a wounded fly.