East is back (was: /or/ distinctions: TOUR)

[Peter A. McGraw]

To a westerner, "out east" sounds really bizarre.  Except for "Down East,"
which I've always understood as a specific region and its culturee rather
than a direction, the only way to describe any place east of the
Mississippi (roughly) is "BACK east" (as opposed to "out here").  At some
point, of course--roughly the Mason-Dixon line, I suppose--"back east"
gives way to "down south."

--On Fri, Apr 14, 2000 3:44 PM -0400 "Steve K." <stevek at SHORE.NET> wrote:

.
>
> For a Michigander, Boston is out east. "Down East" is, I believe, New
> Englandese--most of the DARE quotes (but not all) are from New England
> sources. I actually haven't heard the phrase since I've moved out here 3
> years ago, either.
>
> --- Steve K.



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu