above/below

Is the following true?

We say:
Please see the picture above.
Please see the picture below.

We say:
Please see above.
Please see below.

We say:
The above picture shows...
But we can't say:
The below picture shows...

Thank you.

You read/hear such things all the time. They're fine.

Sorry to repeat the question, but let me confirm.

So, we can NOT say "The below picture shows... "?

Sinja,

Your initial post seems accurate to me. That is, the phrase "The below picture shows... " sounds odd, even though "The above picture shows..." sounds fine.

I would say "The picture below shows..."

As to the reason for this discrepancy, I have no idea.

You were right to repeat yourself: I hadn't understood what you'd been asking: I read too quickly. I agree with Dulcinea del Toboso. As to why: I can't offer any better explaination that it seems that "above" can be an adjective whereas "below" can't ... but then, of course, you might well ask why this is so.

below: adverb, preposition
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=6897&dict=CALD

above: adverb, adjective, preposition
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=220&dict=CALD
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=217&dict=CALD
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=96413&dict=CALD
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=96411&dict=CALD
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=96414&dict=CALD

Thank you Jim and Dulcinea del Toboso! Both of your comments are informative to me.

One more question.

I think I've heard of:
The system configuration is as shown above/below.

But can we also say the following?
The system configuration is as above/below.

"The system configuration is as above." sounds fine but there's something odd about "The system configuration is as below."

So maybe I should say "The system configuration is as follows" instead?

The system configuration is as shown below. (a diagram)
The system configuration is as follows: (a written description or diagram)

What about this: "The picture above shows..."?

Yes to: "The picture above shows..."