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Today I learned! I always thought "downtown" and "uptown" were more like "south from X" and "north from X" where X is some reference point in context (e.g. "wh
by TeMPOraL 2y ago
Today I learned!
I always thought "downtown" and "uptown" were more like "south from X" and "north from X" where X is some reference point in context (e.g. "where I'm standing"). Turns out, it's more similar to "downwell" and "upwell", i.e. towards or away from some central point (gravity wells being spherical-ish and all).
- vikingerik 2y agoUptown can mean anything out of: geographically north, upstream on a river, higher elevation, or higher income and wealth of the residents. It just so happens that for Manhattan which is the most famous uptown, all four of those indicators point in the same direction. In general I think an area would more likely be called an uptown if it met more of those criteria relative to some downtown. (And there would be correlation, wealthier residents would buy higher-elevation land.)