Upstate/downstate

[James A. Landau]

New Jersey is a north-south state yet, like California, it is considered to
consist of "North Jersey" and "South Jersey", perhaps for the same reason as in
California.  There are two major metropolitan areas, Camden/other
Philadelphia suburban, and New York City suburban, neither of which dominate the rest of
the Garden State the way New York City does the Empire State.  Hence neither
region can call itself "downstate" and the rest "upstate."

An interesting piece of nomenclature:  Absecon Island is a long, thin,
north-south barrier island.  From north to south Absecon Island is divided into
Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, and Longport.  The southern portion of the
island, or at least Margate, is called "Downbeach".  There does not seem to be a
corresponding "Upbeach" in Atlantic City.

I was recently reading about the decypherment of the German Enigma machines
in World War II, and found something interesting.  The decypherment was done at
Bletchley Park, which I believe is north of London.  Yet apparently someone
in Bletchley would think of going "up" to London and "down" to return to
Bletchley.  Can one of our British correspondents check this out, please?

One of Reverend Spooner's famous sayings was "You have hissed my mystery
lectures.  You have tasted an entire worm.  You will leave on the next town
drain."  What is a "down train"?  Is there a corresponding "up train"?

     - James A. Landau