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On Prince Edward Island (PEI) phrases like 'Up West' and 'Down East' are the norm which seems pretty weird at first. But once you look at the orientation of the
by en4bz 9y ago
On Prince Edward Island (PEI) phrases like 'Up West' and 'Down East' are the norm which seems pretty weird at first. But once you look at the orientation of the island on a map [1] it starts to make some sense.
Basically people think of the island as being laid out East to West but in reality the island is rotated ~45 degrees on the actual map. So West is really North-West and East is South-East. This leads to people combining the usual North = Up and South = Down with East-West qualifiers.
[1] https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Prince+Edward+Island/@46.6460952,-65.3567529,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4b5e52ddd47f83c5:0xa968d6d5f4926686!8m2!3d46.510712!4d-63.4168136 https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Prince+Edward+Island/@46.64...
- wffurr 9y agoThe "down" in "Down East" actually refers to downwind, as in a sailing direction. The prevailing winds in the area in the summer are form the southwest. So to go to Maine from Boston, one would sail "down"(wind) and east. Likewise from Maine to PEI, it would be "down"(wind) and east.
- tectec 9y agoThat's simplifying it a bit, because there is both 'Up East' and 'Down East', but I've never heard 'Down West'. There is also 'Out West' which refers to Alberta.
- Stratoscope 9y agoThe same thing happens on the San Francisco Peninsula. People think SF is north of San Jose, when it's actually northwest. So everything tends to be off by 45 degrees here too, and very often a full 90 degrees. For example you can drive west on North 101 and turn south onto West 84: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4877668,-122.213475,14z https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4877668,-122.213475,14z