Upstate/downstate

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:49 PM -0500 3/4/04, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
>More generally, "up" is generally "toward the big city". Trains in India
>for example are routinely referred to in this way (although there are other
>conventions, and exceptions): so a train from Bombay to Madras (please
>forgive my conservative toponymy) would be a down train (from Bombay) until
>it reached some point where its designation would change and it would
>become an up train (to Madras). At least that's the way it seemed to be
>when I researched it a few years ago.
>
In some U.S. cities (but not New York), including I believe both
Boston and Chicago, the terms are "inbound" and "outbound", e.g. for
subway/metro purposes.  I haven't encountered "upbound", and while
Bruce Springsteen sings about a "downbound train", I'm pretty sure
he's not referring to one that goes out to the suburbs (or the
bridge-and-tunnel lands).

larry horn