In a quick break from staring at my daughter for hours on end, I noticed that an odd statement in an article in Raleigh's The News Observer had popped up in my Google Alert for Metro Transit Minneapolis. The author of the piece can't seem to figure out how uptown and downtown got their names when uptown is south of downtown. It's not like it's something simple, like what the street and address numbers are. I wonder if he noticed that uptown Minneapolis is the same distance from downtown as midtown Minneapolis, only southwest instead of southeast (I'd love to hear his thoughts on Minneapolis's southeast is south, northeast is southeast, north is northeast, and northwest is north city planning, but I digress). In a typical southerner grammatical move, he also writes "I want claim my part of the city as 'Uptown.'" Why did we want these guys back in the 1860s?
Comments (2)
the original uptown and downtown are from New York, where north is up and south is down. When applied to other cities, it came to refer to the function that the areas performed as well as when areas developed, downtown being the central business district and the older parts of town and uptown being typically an entertainment district and newer.
Posted by Zakcq | January 17, 2006 8:51 PM
Posted on January 17, 2006 20:51
"these guys" are my family! any negative stereotype one would have in one's mind of southerners, would be blasted to hi heaven when you meet the unbelievably awesome Lyles clan from "Mmphis" tennessee.
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Posted by {y. belle} | January 17, 2006 11:40 PM
Posted on January 17, 2006 23:40