Language: AussieInAmerica on {up,down,mid}town:
Something that is common here in Atlantic Canadian and northeast American small cities is to refer to the CBD (or city centre/downtown) as ‘uptown’, especially if coming to the city from its environs. BUT… once I am ‘uptown’ , I would then refer to my location as ‘downtown’. In other words, ‘uptown’ is the city centre/ CBD only if you are not there yet. ‘Uptown’ becomes ‘downtown’ once you arrive there. AND, since many smaller cities have one main street that leads in and out, if you head out of ‘downtown’ up that street you are going ‘uptown’. Follow? It works for us and I can’t recall any confusion.
(Author:) Hmm, I’m glad you folk have got it sorted out! I am reminded of Grover’s existential crisis on Sesame Street as he was coming to grips with ‘here’ and ‘there’. Every time he pitter-pattered over to ‘there’, it turned into ‘here’.
Great site. Some pretty good Strine, too — ‘Jeggoda Sinny?’ really is a common query!
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