midtown

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 10:55 AM 9/11/00 -0400, you wrote:
>In this small univ town students have always referred to the three
>blocks of small stores and bars a block wide on each side (with the
>courthouse and catty-corner a church in the center) as "uptown." I've
>always assumed it was used b/c there's no area developed enough to be
>called "downtown."  Dorm residents have to climb Jeff Hill [and other
>hills] to get
>there--another explanation given for the "uptown" label.  Other shopping
>is done at malls on the state route going out of town which are known as
>"East State Street." Other streetsw with only small strip malls or
>retailers abutting the street are known by their street names also;
>"Columbus Rd," "Stimson Av" or "Richland Av."  I'm surprised to hear the
>blue collar/white collar distinction mentioned in an earlier post.
>
>-- db
>____________________________________________________________________
>David Bergdahl          http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~bergdahl
>tel:  (740) 593-2783
>366 Ellis Hall     Ohio University  Athens, Ohio 45701-2979       fax:
>(740) 593-2818

As a fellow Athenian, I confirm all that Dave says.  But I too am surprised
at the blue/white collar distinction.  In my small town in Minnesota, we
only used "uptown" (and we had NO hills).  I wonder if rather it is a small
town/big city distinction?

_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm