Mark Sullivan (AnonymeInc@webtv.net)
Wed, 22 Dec 1999 11:40:23 -0500 (EST)
This has gotten me, an American, thinking about "downtown,"
also. Obviously, the term works literally with New York,
where the city grew northward and Wall Street, the financial
district, the power structure are all in the "down" of low
numbered streets. In DC, the seat is in the low numbered
streets, as with most east coast cities I can think of.
Of course, most river towns were built on rivers, for the
transportation and formed in rings around this downtown
center. Eventually, the rich move "up on the hill" so they
will be "above" the work.
Is this uniform with US cities? That here is a downtown,
often both in street numbering and elevation or was the term
established in a few big cities and became the generic term,
even for small towns? Speaking of which, "other side of the
tracks" connotes a class dividing line based on the placement
of the railroad in a town, not up and down.
Is this just a facet of modern, planned cities? Is it
different in Europe, don't the rich still live up on the
hill? And the European cities I know definitely have what an
American would call downtown. What is it called there, the
city center, perhaps?
I hope this bit of socio-geography isn't too far off topic,
but it does deal with the colloquial language that is at the
genre's core.
Mark
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