Downtown or uptown, which do you prefer?

Started by Legend, Sep 18, 2019, 09:13 PM

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Legend


the-pi-guy


Xevross


the-pi-guy

As someone who has lived in a tiny town almost his entire life....  

There's town and then there's country.  None of this "downtown"/"uptown" stuff.  

Legend

Wut
As someone who has lived in a tiny town almost his entire life....  

There's town and then there's country.  None of this "downtown"/"uptown" stuff.  
Yall can at least agree that downtowns are a thing right?

the-pi-guy

Yall can at least agree that downtowns are a thing right?
Yes.  ::P

Legend

Yes.  ::P

While I was in Manhattan the other week there was a sign or something for "Uptown." Didn't really think about it too much at the time, but later on it clicked that downtowns are specifically called downtowns just because in New York the original part of the city is to the south. Somehow I had just never thought about it before but I thought it was interesting.

So "uptowns" are just the areas built later that are more residential.

Xevross

Yall can at least agree that downtowns are a thing right?
Sure, like Downtown Abbey! ;)

But in seriousness I was being deliberately obtuse because these terms aren't used in the UK at all and if you asked me I wouldn't be 100% sure what Americans use them for. My guess would have been downtown is the central area of a city and uptown is the suburbs. British people would say "city centre" or "town centre" instead of downtown and we don't really have a term for uptown we usually just say the name of the place. There's also abbreviations of those terms people use.

For example everybody in my home city of Preston refers to downtown/ the city centre simply as "town", which everyone understands is short for "town centre". So we say "I'm going into town" to people. idk if that's a common northern thing or if its just my city which says that. And for the uptown part I'd just say the name of the suburb I live in. Uptown wouldn't make sense at all in most cities really, you could be referring to any number of places.

BananaKing

Sure, like Downtown Abbey! ;)

But in seriousness I was being deliberately obtuse because these terms aren't used in the UK at all and if you asked me I wouldn't be 100% sure what Americans use them for. My guess would have been downtown is the central area of a city and uptown is the suburbs. British people would say "city centre" or "town centre" instead of downtown and we don't really have a term for uptown we usually just say the name of the place. There's also abbreviations of those terms people use.

For example everybody in my home city of Preston refers to downtown/ the city centre simply as "town", which everyone understands is short for "town centre". So we say "I'm going into town" to people. idk if that's a common northern thing or if its just my city which says that. And for the uptown part I'd just say the name of the suburb I live in. Uptown wouldn't make sense at all in most cities really, you could be referring to any number of places.
You know what's annoying with you guys in the uk? How you tell time. It's just.... annoying.

Xevross

You know what's annoying with you guys in the uk? How you tell time. It's just.... annoying.
Whadda ya mean?

BananaKing

Whadda ya mean?
For example instead of saying two, thirty. (2:30) you say "half past". Which is simply ridiculous!

Xevross

For example instead of saying two, thirty. (2:30) you say "half past". Which is simply ridiculous!
Well its interchangeable, although half past isn't the confusing. If you said "half past two" to someone who'd never heard it before they could easily work out that you mean half an hour past two o'clock. It is easier just to say the numbers though, which is how I normally say the time. Like twenty to three makes sense and most british people would say it that way but two forty is just much easier for everyone.

At least we're not like the Germans, who for 2:30 would say "halb drei" or half three, as in halfway to three o'clock. Now that's weird ;D

Legend

Sure, like Downtown Abbey! ;)

But in seriousness I was being deliberately obtuse because these terms aren't used in the UK at all and if you asked me I wouldn't be 100% sure what Americans use them for. My guess would have been downtown is the central area of a city and uptown is the suburbs. British people would say "city centre" or "town centre" instead of downtown and we don't really have a term for uptown we usually just say the name of the place. There's also abbreviations of those terms people use.

For example everybody in my home city of Preston refers to downtown/ the city centre simply as "town", which everyone understands is short for "town centre". So we say "I'm going into town" to people. idk if that's a common northern thing or if its just my city which says that. And for the uptown part I'd just say the name of the suburb I live in. Uptown wouldn't make sense at all in most cities really, you could be referring to any number of places.
I never thought about going into town referring to that. Over here it is a very common phrase but it's almost exclusively used with literally towns or small cities. Like a farmer going into town.

Locally we have Downtown Littleton but downtown on its own always refers to Denver. It's also common to call it just main street (think Disneyland Mainstreet).

Yeah Uptown isn't used generally like Downtown. Manhattan island is tall and thin so all expansion happened to the North but most of the time it doesn't work that way. Interestingly enough though according to Wikipedia it is common for newer sections of a city to expand into mountain sides, making "uptown" refer to geographical height instead of North.