Quote:
Originally Posted by kwoldtimer
Although I think I'd more likely say "out" in the case of St John's, the sound of me saying "I moved from Kitchener down to Halifax" doesn't seem wrong to me.
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You know, Canada needs more people who are curious about these things doing TV shows on obscure points of interest the way the Brits and the Americans do.
Because I'd love it if someone could do a poll of a thousand people on these kinds of issues, and then go around the country asking people on camera about them too, both regular types on the street and those with some professional knowledge.
I don't fully trust my own intuition on this. I understand the reasoning that "going down to Halifax" makes sense, but it still really does sound wrong to my ears. Saying "up" or "down" for anything in a Canadian context outside of Calgary-Edmonton or Regina-Saskatoon sounds wrong to me unless you're going to the Arctic Circle or Ohio or Florida. Or Windsor up to Toronto. or "up to Muskoka." I'd venture to say that water transport resonates very little to your average person in these parts, and in the Prairies as well.
My neighbour down the street did a lovely book of the history of the Grand River, complete with drawings, that took him and his sister three years to complete, but I'm afraid it's a niche book that will sell very few copies or elicit much interest in the general public.
http://www.therecord.com/living-stor...iver-revealed/
"Water at work" just doesn't loom large in our consciousness. Nothing like with the mythical rivers of the world: the Thames, the Seine, the Danube, the Yellow River, the Mississippi, the Amazon. Except that in French I'm assuming that the St. Lawrence does indeed occupy that kind of space in Quebec?