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I've lived my whole life in Texas and never assigned cardinal directions to out or over. Up and down, sure, but that seems fairly universal. No one in checking

I've lived my whole life in Texas and never assigned cardinal directions to out or over. Up and down, sure, but that seems fairly universal. No one in checking with, regardless of Texas hometown or age had any idea this was a thing, either, and that's hitting people up to 60 years old and from Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Maybe it's a rural Texas thing?

emodendroket 9y ago
It does seem like a huge, diverse state (as the old song goes, Heaven's almost as big as Texas). I don't think I could make many accurate sweeping generalizations about the way people talk in Eastern Massachusetts, let alone a territory the size of France. The "up" or "down" parts don't seem unusual to me, though, as someone who's never even been to Texas.
dtornabene 9y ago
I have! Born and bred. I'd agree it seems like its far, far more of a rural, and probably anglo, thing.
kodablah 9y ago
> Maybe it's a rural Texas thing? Not really. Maybe for the author. Living a long time in rural Texas (now urban), I can say that someone might have a propensity to use over and out for specific directions, but in my experience they are interchangeable and it's not a universal truth. Granted there are no universal truths about Texas/Texans so when you hear one, discount it. And you are right that up and down as cardinal directions doesn't feel uniquely Texan but can't tell when only on the inside. In the seemingly endless rush to satisfy Texan exceptionalism, dialect and slang are among the traits that are always held up as unique. Yet every region has their own.
- WillAbides 9y ago
  This brings back a memory of a conversation with my grandfather. We were in Midland, and I said something about heading over to Odessa. He made a disparaging remark about my intelligence and said we would have to head out to Odessa from there. That never made any sense to me until now.
- lotyrin 9y ago
  Raised as a rural Oregonian with great grandparents from Arkansas here, north = up and south = down is pretty solid in my vernacular, though sometimes elevation will override latitude and we'll go "up" to somewhere slightly south. We mostly go "over" to places without a large elevation or latitude change, but there is some use of "out" but never to cardinal directions, only to imply change in population density or degree of settlement. If you're in town, you might be "headed out" to a campground, just as you might "head in" to town afterward, if you're in the city you'd head "out" to a smaller town.
ouid 9y ago
over seems like it's specifying that you aren't changing your "locale", whereas out seems to mean "more rural". Everything east of Houston that you might go to is as urban as houston itself, whereas most everything to the west of Houston is far less urban. Down, in contrast, seems to mean "more urban", as well as south.
irrational 9y ago
>Up and down, sure, but that seems fairly universal. Only within a modern western civilization context. In the ancient world maps were usually oriented to the East (towards the rising sun) rather than to the North. So, for them Up would have meant toward the East and down toward the West (where the sun set - usually associated with the land of the dead).
sh-run 9y ago
Another data point, I grew up in a small town outside of Amarillo and now live in Fort Worth. I went down (south) to Lubbock for College and over to Fort Worth (east) when I graduated. I still head over (west) to Lubbock occasionally because I have a sister going to Texas Tech. I go up (north) to Amarillo to visit my parents. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't really noticed anyone using "out" to describe a direction. People do head "out" and go "out" all the time though.
craftyguy 9y ago
I grew up in Texas in the 90s, in both urban and rural locations (Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and some small towns in the hill country), and it does seem to be a mainly rural thing.
look_lookatme 9y ago
I'm from rural Texas and I use them all, but out and over aren't strictly cardinal, though thinking about it now they probably mostly conform to the cardinal directions (when being used in this context). I definitely will say "out" for anywhere west, all the way to California. I'll say "over" for short distances in any direction. I doubt I'd ever say "out" for anywhere east of where I grew up.
GilbertErik 9y ago
We grew up not using the dichotomy of 'Out' vs. 'Over', but 'Out' vs. 'In' signifying whether we're heading to a more rural or urban area. e.g. Let's go in (to town) to go to a bar. Let's go camping out at Krause. 'Over' is more reserved when going to a previously known destination.

emodendroket 9y ago

It does seem like a huge, diverse state (as the old song goes, Heaven's almost as big as Texas). I don't think I could make many accurate sweeping generalizations about the way people talk in Eastern Massachusetts, let alone a territory the size of France. The "up" or "down" parts don't seem unusual to me, though, as someone who's never even been to Texas.

dtornabene 9y ago

I have! Born and bred. I'd agree it seems like its far, far more of a rural, and probably anglo, thing.

kodablah 9y ago

> Maybe it's a rural Texas thing? Not really. Maybe for the author. Living a long time in rural Texas (now urban), I can say that someone might have a propensity to use over and out for specific directions, but in my experience they are interchangeable and it's not a universal truth. Granted there are no universal truths about Texas/Texans so when you hear one, discount it. And you are right that up and down as cardinal directions doesn't feel uniquely Texan but can't tell when only on the inside. In the seemingly endless rush to satisfy Texan exceptionalism, dialect and slang are among the traits that are always held up as unique. Yet every region has their own.

WillAbides 9y ago
This brings back a memory of a conversation with my grandfather. We were in Midland, and I said something about heading over to Odessa. He made a disparaging remark about my intelligence and said we would have to head out to Odessa from there. That never made any sense to me until now.
lotyrin 9y ago
Raised as a rural Oregonian with great grandparents from Arkansas here, north = up and south = down is pretty solid in my vernacular, though sometimes elevation will override latitude and we'll go "up" to somewhere slightly south. We mostly go "over" to places without a large elevation or latitude change, but there is some use of "out" but never to cardinal directions, only to imply change in population density or degree of settlement. If you're in town, you might be "headed out" to a campground, just as you might "head in" to town afterward, if you're in the city you'd head "out" to a smaller town.

ouid 9y ago

over seems like it's specifying that you aren't changing your "locale", whereas out seems to mean "more rural". Everything east of Houston that you might go to is as urban as houston itself, whereas most everything to the west of Houston is far less urban. Down, in contrast, seems to mean "more urban", as well as south.

irrational 9y ago

>Up and down, sure, but that seems fairly universal. Only within a modern western civilization context. In the ancient world maps were usually oriented to the East (towards the rising sun) rather than to the North. So, for them Up would have meant toward the East and down toward the West (where the sun set - usually associated with the land of the dead).

sh-run 9y ago

Another data point, I grew up in a small town outside of Amarillo and now live in Fort Worth. I went down (south) to Lubbock for College and over to Fort Worth (east) when I graduated. I still head over (west) to Lubbock occasionally because I have a sister going to Texas Tech. I go up (north) to Amarillo to visit my parents. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't really noticed anyone using "out" to describe a direction. People do head "out" and go "out" all the time though.

craftyguy 9y ago

I grew up in Texas in the 90s, in both urban and rural locations (Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and some small towns in the hill country), and it does seem to be a mainly rural thing.

look_lookatme 9y ago

I'm from rural Texas and I use them all, but out and over aren't strictly cardinal, though thinking about it now they probably mostly conform to the cardinal directions (when being used in this context). I definitely will say "out" for anywhere west, all the way to California. I'll say "over" for short distances in any direction. I doubt I'd ever say "out" for anywhere east of where I grew up.

GilbertErik 9y ago

We grew up not using the dichotomy of 'Out' vs. 'Over', but 'Out' vs. 'In' signifying whether we're heading to a more rural or urban area. e.g. Let's go in (to town) to go to a bar. Let's go camping out at Krause. 'Over' is more reserved when going to a previously known destination.