Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

texasmonthly.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 136 posts

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#31

Post by wink »

zwieback wrote: post #10

I thought that was universal, for me it's up to Portland, down to Eugene, out to Newport (coast), over (the mountains) to Bend. My kids, who are just starting to drive, don't know their compass directions that well (and maybe never will, thanks to GPS) so they say wrong things like "up to California".

Not a native English speaker, but living (relatively) close to the Alps, and I've definitely heard "up" meaning "towards the mountains into higher regions".

On the other hand, without thinking about it too long "out" means "to the countryside, out of town", "over" is mostly east/west and "in" is definitely the city centre.

"Down" is the odd one out, I can't pinpoint a direction.

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#33

Post by sputknick »

We use the same terms in the Shenandoah Valley, which makes sense, since many of the original settlers to Texas were from Virginia, and might explain the term "over" because many places you might go would be over the Blue Ridge Mountains. A related one I've noticed since moving to Seattle, is people using "back east" to describe the east coast. It's not just transplants from the east coast like myself that do it, people born and raised in Washington will say "back east" to describe the East Coast. An interesting remnant from our country being settled from east to west.

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#34

Post by glandium »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #30

Was talking with a Japanese friend the other day and had a great conversation trying to nail down the meanings of over by, out near, up there, down by, etc, using local landmarks. The Japanese equivalents are ここ、そこ、あこ, meaning respectively "here", "there (nearer)", and "there (further)". There's also これ、それ、あれ, meaning "this", "that (nearer)", and "that (further)". These distances can be both spatial, temporal, and me…

あこ is an archaism. あそこ is used instead these days.

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#35

Post by Stratoscope »

en4bz wrote: post #9
qbrass wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up and Down aren't. They're map relative and pretty common. Some places had a history of south-oriented maps so they may call south up and north down.

On Prince Edward Island (PEI) phrases like 'Up West' and 'Down East' are the norm which seems pretty weird at first. But once you look at the orientation of the island on a map [1] it starts to make some sense. Basically people think of the island as being laid out East to West but in reality the island is rotated ~45 degrees on the actual map. So West is really North-West and East is South-East. This leads to people…

The same thing happens on the San Francisco Peninsula. People think SF is north of San Jose, when it's actually northwest.

So everything tends to be off by 45 degrees here too, and very often a full 90 degrees. For example you can drive west on North 101 and turn south onto West 84:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4877668,-122.213475,14z

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#36

Post by logfromblammo »

I have never used "up" and "down" for north and south, but to be fair, that is solely to be contrarian in the face of people who used them as synonyms for north and south.

Of course, growing up in central Indiana, it was a long while before I even knew what a hill was. People frequently used "up" and "down" directionally, probably because they're nice and short, and there was nothing else to use them for. There was no "over/out"-like distinction for east and west, though. East and west were both "over". That might be related to the general north-south orientation of the state, too.

...And it just occurred to me that north actually is up and south actually is down in most of Indiana. All the rivers run south, to the Ohio, except around Gary and South Bend. Facepalming at my teenaged self right now.

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#37

Post by username223 »

__david__ wrote: post #26

As a native Californian I definitely use "up" and "down". Up to L.A., down to San Diego. I might make a trip up the coast to Oregon or Washington. I also might go back east (meaning the east coast). Never used "out" though, probably because I'm already about as west as you can go on this continent! "Over", however is just used without regard to direction, though it generally signifies a close distance. I'd head over…

As a native of... nowhere in particular, I think "up" and "down" are pretty universal among Americans for "north" and "south." I wouldn't be surprised if they're near-universal to inhabitants of the northern hemisphere, since that's the way maps are drawn. A possible exception would be inhabitants of mountainous regions saying e.g. "up to Leadville" or "down to Denver."

Having lived in Houston, I didn't notice "over" and "out." I would personally use "over" for "within city" and "out" for "outside of city."

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#38

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

glandium wrote: post #34
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #30

Was talking with a Japanese friend the other day and had a great conversation trying to nail down the meanings of over by, out near, up there, down by, etc, using local landmarks. The Japanese equivalents are ここ、そこ、あこ, meaning respectively "here", "there (nearer)", and "there (further)". There's also これ、それ、あれ, meaning "this", "that (nearer)", and "that (further)". These distances can be both spatial, temporal, and me…

あこ is an archaism. あそこ is used instead these days.

Maybe it's regional? I've heared あこ used by native speakers many times.

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#39

Post by S_A_P »

I live in a suburb(using the term generously) of Houston. Its actually 40 miles from downtown Houston. It is southwest of the city, and when asked where I live, I say "down in Richmond". As a native Houstonian, I can say that this article rings true to me, but is becoming less so. Houston is actually quite diverse and there is a healthy distribution of cultures and immigrants so some of the Texas slang is fading. I think that Houston is a much better place to live now than it was even 20 years ago, there is great authentic cuisine from just about any corner of the globe available, and lots to do.

Re: Talk Like a Texan: How Texans Use “Down,” “Out,” “Over,” and “Up”

#40

Post by gowld »

blunte wrote: post #15

Honestly, I never thought about the "rules" of how these words were used... that's just how we talk in much of Texas (and probably other places). I can guess that "out" meaning west is because in early American times, going west was dangerous. You were going "out" of safety and into the wild. Going "over" just meant going horizontally on the map but within an established (safe) area. Up and down are kind of obvious,…

> so we don't often hear about the quirks of Iowans.

It's highlighted in one of the most famous Broadway shows of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV7ZcVFSWWU&t=1m50s

Post reply on HN