"down train"

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 13, 2013, at 4:46 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 1/13/2013 04:30 PM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock wrote:
>> Is this related to High Street?
>
> My guess is no, that "high street" means simply "the main
> street".  The OED defines it as " ... A highway, a main road, whether
> in country or town; now, very generally, the proper name (High
> Street) of that street of a town which is built upon a *great
> highway*, and is (or was originally) the *principal one* in the
> town."  (Emphasis added)

There's also a difference in usage at least in U.K. sources (esp. novels) I'm familiar with:  it's (almost?) always "*the* High Street", but in the U.S. "Main Street" is a name, "the main street" would just refer to a principal thoroughfare of whatever name.  For example, the main street in Cambridge MA is Mass(achusetts) Ave(nue).  In Hartford CT, Main St. is a fairly important thoroughfare, but is not really the main street of the city.  But in Britain, it seems that the main street is *called* "the High Street".  Unless I've misinterpreted.

LH
>
> What I see in the OED is that the "down" or central part of town was
> "lower" and the outer areas "higher".  Its definition of "downtown,
> A. adv." is "Into the town (from a more elevated suburb); down in the
> town."  Why that should be the association for a word that seems to
> have entered the language as late as the 1830s is a mystery to
> me.  Perhaps because in Olde England towns were first sited at places
> with access to water transportation-- oceanside or river -- and thus
> would commonly be lower than the surrounding territory.
>
> Joel
>
>
>
>> On Jan 13, 2013, at 12:33 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>> > C1.  Which way is "down" in England?
>> >
>> > Answer:  Away from the center (of population, business,
>> > transportation, learning, etc.)
>> >
>> > C2:  Which way is "downtown"?
>> >
>> > Answer:  Toward (or at) the central part of the city.  See OED, "downtown".
>>
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>
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