up or down the street

crosseyed   Sunday, June 29, 2003, 19:00 GMT
What is the difference between walking down the street and walking it up?
Jacob   Sunday, June 29, 2003, 22:50 GMT
Well, if the street is on a hill, then up and down have their usual meaning.

Otherwise, walking down the street and walking up the street mean exactly the same thing, as far as I'm concerned.
David Bosch   Sunday, June 29, 2003, 23:22 GMT
Yep, unless it's a perfectly made street that is perfectly flat.
BenIII   Sunday, June 29, 2003, 23:27 GMT
When you go north you go up the street, when you go south you do down..... Or something.
David Bosch   Sunday, June 29, 2003, 23:58 GMT
Ooo! I did not know that, thanks.
Jim   Monday, June 30, 2003, 00:03 GMT
I never think of it in terms of "north = up" and "south = down". I see where BenIII's coming from but who uses a map to walk around the neighbourhood?
Jacob   Monday, June 30, 2003, 01:39 GMT
>When you go north you go up the street, when you go south you do down..... Or something.

I don't really think that's valid. 'Up' and 'down' are just used interchangeably to round out the sound of lots of motion verbs. There's often no physical attribution attached to them. People from my hometown will say, for instance, "I'm going up to Baltimore" or "I'm going down to Baltimore" pretty much at random. My dad will say, "You want to walk up to the sawmill?" even though there's no altitude difference involved. Somehow it just makes the sentence sound better, rounder.
abcd   Monday, June 30, 2003, 06:49 GMT
I had this problem when I arrived in France. Whenever I asked an address, they told me, 'descendez (ou montez) cette rue, marchez 5 minutes et...'. Meaning 'walk down (or up) this street for 5 minutes, ...'.
I'm not able to disinguish North from South very often and I said to myself the French were very good at directions.
Lana   Monday, June 30, 2003, 13:26 GMT
BenIII,
What if the street runs east-west?
David Bosch   Monday, June 30, 2003, 17:25 GMT
Good point.
all the sheep   Monday, June 30, 2003, 17:39 GMT
what if the street runs west-east?
another good point
Teddy Bear   Monday, June 30, 2003, 18:33 GMT
There is also North-east and south-east, ...etc. So we can always refer to North and South.