Bush* Cites a Region Unfamiliar to Locals ("up East???")

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 15 — President Bush is spending the month in Texas, and it shows.

When he said on Thursday that he was pleased flights at many airports "up East" were resuming to normal, Southerners heard a familiar phrase for the most populated corner of the United States. But Up Easterners were confused.

That's because many of them only know down East, which is a New England expression that refers to sailing downwind. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, "one always goes `up to Boston,' quite as one returns down to Maine."

Allan A. Metcalf, a professor of English at McMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., suggested that Mr. Bush, who attended Yale and Harvard Business School, might have been confusing the two terms.

"Perhaps when he was in New England, he heard the phrase `down east' and was sort of vaguely remembering it, and then thought: It's not really down east, it's up on the map,' " he said.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2003/08/16/national/16EAST.html

n/t

..... where? As if we didn't know.

That's what we westerners have said as long as I can remember. Poor George, talking is really one of the hardest things I have to do everyday too. :eyes:

is what I use too. In Minnesota we have "up north" as in "I'm going up north to the lake." Perhaps he heard that weasel Coleman use the up north phrase and became confused.

But there doesn't seem to be a standard for "down" or "up" "town". I just say "in town."

Now I think I'll drive on the parkway or maybe park in the driveway.

sheesh.......
:eyes:]

I always thought uptown or downtown was determined by which side of the tracks you grew up on. As a kid, I always went uptown (literally) as I crossed the tracks and hoofed it 'uptown', while my rich buddies who lived on the hill always went 'downtown'. I guess it's a Reagan thing that has something to do with the trickle-down effect; Shit flows downhill, and that law won't be changing soon, it's not unlike where you live in relationship to the nuclear power plant, up or downwind.

it IS up & east.. or Up & right..."ummm teacher...is it time for recess???"

Too bad nobody in Texas ever says, "Up east."

BACK east, dumbo.

nt

I was ranting about this to my husband yesterday. (I tend to rant a lot after seeing * speak.) I have NEVER heard "up east" used. Downeast, yes. After all that's where I live. But UP east? This man is so NOT suited for this job. It was just another indication in an already pathetic display that he's not able to speak off-the-cuff.

Also, why can't he say "you"? It's always "ya". I don't mean to dump on Texans or those with any sort of accent but he comes across as very UNintelligent. Oh, wait...

Edited to add the second rant. I'll stop now.

However, I've mostly heard "up in the east" as opposed to "up east." I was born and raised in Texas. Fourth generation Texan. I gotta give him a break on this one. To us Texans, anything north of the Red River is UP (and Yankee, to boot). Or "up there." I don't find the Chimp's phrase so odd.

Guess I'm the odd man out here, but yes, I've heard it before, many times.

but they shouldn't extrapolate "Texan" to "Southern" as if it were a common phrase throughout the region. But then I always get a little surly when I've watched a movie with overly exaggerated "Southern" accents (the only kind of "Southern" accent most actors can do, apparently!) It's "Crazy," to borrow a word from Patsy Cline. ;-)

we refer to the folks in the eastern part of our state as being "up east". If you drive from Nashville to Knoxville, you are going "up east".

Refers to altitude.

I lived for 19 years in Texas and never heard that phrase used there.

Is "up East" a "familiar phrase" ANYWHERE? I've never heard it anywhere in the South.