Dialect/slang

dogduke · Post by **dogduke** » Sun 25 Sep, 2011 9:46 pm

Leodian wrote: I would say such as "I'm going down to town" (meaning into the centre of Leeds) and "I'm going down to London" but "I'm going up to Edinburgh". It's probably not really dialect nor slang but I wonder how others say them. For example I have heard people say "I'm going up to London". Back to railway language - up was always,and still is theline to the more important destination,up to London,down to Leeds/york,Scotland etc,also Up to Machester(spit)down to Leeds.As regards Leeds centre,we always said - going in town.

Johnny39 · Post by **Johnny39** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 2:04 am

Leodian wrote: I would say such as "I'm going down to town" (meaning into the centre of Leeds) and "I'm going down to London" but "I'm going up to Edinburgh". It's probably not really dialect nor slang but I wonder how others say them. For example I have heard people say "I'm going up to London". I believe you do go up to the capital but like you we always said,"Going down to London". Also over/across to Manchester or Hull.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 9:50 am

Its only fifteen miles or so from Leeds to Pontefract - but WHAT a difference in accents/dialects. When I went to work on South Yorkshire Road Transport in November 1987 it took me quite a while to get used to all the fascinating differences. One particular expression must have a hundred uses down there, depending on facial expression and intonation. The expression is "AREN'T WE ALL RIGHT, EH ??" It can be used to signify annoyance at something that's happened, or disgust at what someone has done, or amusement at something funny, or proposed refusal to obey some outrageous instruction from higher authority. Fascinating to me.

Si · Post by Si » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 11:38 am

Johnny39 wrote: Leodian wrote: I would say such as "I'm going down to town" (meaning into the centre of Leeds) and "I'm going down to London" but "I'm going up to Edinburgh". It's probably not really dialect nor slang but I wonder how others say them. For example I have heard people say "I'm going up to London". I believe you do go up to the capital but like you we always said,"Going down to London". Also over/across to Manchester or Hull. I might have got this the wrong way round, but don't posh people go "up to Cambridge" (or Oxford) and "down to London?"

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 11:39 am

It's up to London.

Si · Post by Si » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 12:09 pm

Cheers, Cardi. I couldn't remember which way round it was!

PC - Dublin · Post by **PC - Dublin** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 1:59 pm

dogduke wrote: [Back to railway language - up was always,and still is theline to the more important destination,up to London,down to Leeds/york,Scotland etc,also Up to Machester(spit)down to Leeds.As regards Leeds centre,we always said - going in town. Yes I agree with Dogduke. The terminology comes from "railway speak". It comes from the upline to... or the downline to ....Hence we have "going up to ..." or "down to ....."Over to you Jim !!

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 2:58 pm

Si wrote: Johnny39 wrote: Leodian wrote: I would say such as "I'm going down to town" (meaning into the centre of Leeds) and "I'm going down to London" but "I'm going up to Edinburgh". It's probably not really dialect nor slang but I wonder how others say them. For example I have heard people say "I'm going up to London". I believe you do go up to the capital but like you we always said,"Going down to London". Also over/across to Manchester or Hull. I might have got this the wrong way round, but don't posh people go "up to Cambridge" (or Oxford) and "down to London?" Ah, confirmation that I'm posh! How come though that "I know my place" and "I get a pain in the back of my neck" looking up to others.

jim · Post by **jim** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 3:07 pm

My thanks for the vote of confidence PC-Dublin!This is actually quite a difficult one to explain easily. Basically the deciding factor in which is the "up" line depends on the datum point of the pre-1923 railway company which owned the line. In most cases if that line had a London terminus, then "up" is towards London, but the Midland Railway, for instance, did not gain its own access to London until around 1870,so its datum point was always Derby. Trains from Leeds to London St. Pancras would therefore travel "up" as far as Derby and then travel "down" to London. As far as I know this is still the case - unless the situation has been modified in more recent years.For railways which did not have a line to London (such as the Scottish and small Welsh companies, and the L&YR and NER railways) the datum point would be at whichever station they regarded as their headquarters. The L&Y's datum point was Manchester Victoria, and the NER's was (I believe) York. This would mean a train traveling from Manchester to York would be a "down" train as far as Normanton and then become an "up" train.For real confusion, take an L&SWR (later Southern) service from Plymouth to London (Waterloo). It would set off "up" from the terminus at Friary, travel "down" through the GWR station, revert to "up" as far as Exeter St, Davids where it would then be "down" until the junction for Exeter Central, from where it would then be "up" all the way to Waterloo. ___________________By the way, in my experience nobody in the areas of Leeds I lived in was ever "going" anywhere. It was always "off ter" Leeds or town or "t' fillums"!

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Mon 26 Sep, 2011 3:38 pm

jim wrote: By the way, in my experience nobody in the areas of Leeds I lived in was ever "going" anywhere. It was always "off ter" Leeds or town or "t' fillums"! Being posh that I am I did not want to admit that I do say "off ter".