Do you go UP the street or DOWN the street? And do you slow UP or slow DOWN? And where in the U.S.do you live?

Question

I live in northern VA, and I go down the street and slow down. I'd just like to know what folks around the country say.

LOL! To those of you who've asked, Yes...people DO say "Slow up!", which sounds so strange to me. The ones I've heard came from above NY, or from near Washington state, unlike DJ's experience. To HARDTIMES, I'd think "Oh, let me back up", as I backed down the mountain. And RETROGIRL, I have neeeeeever heard of getting on or off the car instead of in & out!

Answer 1

here in calif where we have mountains and vallys withing a few miles of one another we say we are going down to town " it is generaly in the vally" and we slow down and speed up.
I'm going to go down town and speed up to pass the cars and slow down for the turns.

Now the real question is when on a one lane dirt mountain road and you coe to another car comming at you what do you do Back Up or down.

Answer 2

I live in Texas. Whether I go UP the street or DOWN the street is determined on my location at the time: I use both expressions. I slow down. I live on the Mexican border, so I have heard some expressions here that I wonder about. Instead of getting IN or OUT of the car, people get ON or OFF.

Answer 3

I say down the street and slow down. Does anybody actually say slow up?? Also, around here people say "coke" to mean any carbonated beverage and that really throws me off (i wasn't born here) because when I say "i want a coke" and they say "ok, what kind?", i'm like "i just told you: coke; if i wanted something else I would have said I want a soda"....i'm from Houston, by the way, but I've lived all over the country so I've picked up isms and sayings from everywhere so what i say may not necessarily be the Houston way of saying stuff.

Answer 4

Depends on where the river is.

Many big cities have rivers because they are usually ports, so the "uptown" and "downtown" nomenclature became common. So you can go both "up" and "down" the same street and you are actually saying which direction.

It's "slow down" but often mixed-up with "hold up" (which means stop) to become "slow up". In my experience, "slow up" is a particularly Southern Black phrase.

Answer 5

This is Oklahoma depends on the direction your headed.

When we go up the road we are headed North
Down the road we are headed South
When we go to the left it is west and to the right we are going east.
We are a higher elevation than Texas. So not only North but up.
No one here slows up or down and very few stop at stop signs.

Answer 6

if I am heading north, I go up the street, if I'm going south, I go down the street. If I'm going east or west, it just depends, but I think the preference is down, as opposed to up. And I definitely slow down, never up. That's like an oxymoron.

Answer 7

Sometimes I go up the street if its north of where I am and I go down the street if its south of where I am - and I go this or that way when they fall east or west. I slow down for things and speed up for things - how can you slow up? I'm from Arkansas! Hillbilly by birth and choice to stay that way!

Answer 8

Up the street. I am at the top of the hill. (It's hilly, so it makes a difference)

Slow down. I need to use the brakes before I get to the bottom of the hill. (it's still hilly)

While I live in northwest Connecticut, New Yorkers call it "upstate Connecticut". It's darn funny.

Answer 9

It is also Do you go up town or do you go down town>?
I go up the street where i am headed and down the street coming back. I slow down and I live in Indiana.

Answer 10

I go both up and down the street but I most assuredly have never slowed up. Michigan.

Do you go up or down town?