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

texasmonthly.com

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

#41

Post by pwagland »

username223 wrote: post #37
__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"…

Even in Australia which, last I checked, is not in the US, uses up and down to refer to north and south. That seems fairly independent or state as well. For example ins Perth you go "up to Geraldton" and in Sydney you go "up to Brisbane", and "down to Melbourne".

The whole out and over thing seems more regional to me. In Australia "out" is generally just "far from here" and "over"... well that isn't a thing, at least in the dialects that I'm used to. :-)

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

#42

Post by markcerqueira »

__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…

I'm surprised to hear a native Californian would say "back east." I thought only people from the East Coast (or I guessed who lived there at one point) would go "back."

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

#43

Post by reificator »

username223 wrote: post #37
__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"…

Denver metro resident, I can confirm that `up` means both North and West thanks to the mountains.

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

#44

Post by citationnerded »

I was born and raised in houston and lived there for 15+ years. People say these words, but know one I know of actually associates them with specific cardinal directions. Up and down make elementary school sense and so likely are used this way in most places... I am wary of out vs over though. But who knows, maybe this is used explicitly by people in a specific region of Houston. I grew up mostly on the sw end.

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

#45

Post by mclehman »

reificator wrote: post #43
username223 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"…

Denver metro resident, I can confirm that `up` means both North and West thanks to the mountains.

Albuquerque born and raised, I use up for north and east for the same reason.

Everyone else I've asked in ABQ uses up for "the direction I'm going".

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

#47

Post by brosky117 »

citationnerded wrote: post #44

I was born and raised in houston and lived there for 15+ years. People say these words, but know one I know of actually associates them with specific cardinal directions. Up and down make elementary school sense and so likely are used this way in most places... I am wary of out vs over though. But who knows, maybe this is used explicitly by people in a specific region of Houston. I grew up mostly on the sw end.

I had the same thought as I was reading the article. My experience living in Houston for a decade was that no one assigned any special meaning to "out" and "over".

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

#48

Post by hibbelig »

username223 wrote: post #37
__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"…

German here. Up and down are not related to north and south for me. Maybe it's because streets are not neatly arranged like that?

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

#49

Post by wvenable »

markcerqueira wrote: post #42
__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…

I'm surprised to hear a native Californian would say "back east." I thought only people from the East Coast (or I guessed who lived there at one point) would go "back."

West coast Canada we also "back east" -- it's the linguistic opposite of "out west".

The underlying source is the idea everyone is somehow "from" the east, and they (or their ancestors) at one point moved "out west", but if they were to return, it would be to go "back east."

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

#50

Post by zwieback »

wink wrote: post #31
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.

Agree with hibbelig, I grew up in Germany (Stuttgart) and I think compass directions aren't as popular as here in the US. Maybe because all the roads are so twisty, even in the cities, that nothing goes in one direction for very long. We definitely went "down" to the city center because it was at a much lower elevation than our neighborhood.
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