Wicked Good Guides / Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

Up Cape

Heading south on the Cape.

Comments

why is up south and down north? man bostonians confuse me... and howcome you say bos ton for boston, but then its bos stone ians? if u get what i mean

Koby on June 21, 2004 03:35 AM.

Because "Bos-tone-ians" sounds dumb, and we're not dumb, that's why :-).

OK, the long 'o' sound is commonly found in such words, so it probably just carried over (my favorite is "Hullonian," which is what you call somebody from Hull.

adamg on June 21, 2004 10:05 AM.

The whole "South is up" is more common on the coast, particularly in Maine, coming from sailing days. Downeast Maine is the easternmost part of the state, and downwind from anyplace else. When a Mainer goes to Boston, be goes up to get there.

hogans on July 25, 2004 08:08 PM.

Explain why non Bostonians say "copEly" Square instead of the correct pronunciation "copley" square. I actually a tourist insist that *we*/Bostonians were saying it wrong ..doh!

Gene on March 14, 2005 06:32 PM.

I never say "Up the Cape" it's always "... going DOWN the cape"

gene on March 14, 2005 06:36 PM.

The cape curves northward, so in order to drive to the end of it, at some point you do go up.

k on July 18, 2006 04:22 PM.

yeah this is wrong. It is up cape for off cape and down cape for down. I've lived here all my life. What is this guy talking about?

kyle on August 25, 2006 03:18 PM.

I have never heard anyone say up cape... always down cape, no matter where you're going on the cape.

tm on October 30, 2006 11:05 AM.

From down Cape, someplace like Falmouth would be up Cape. (Heading West BTW.) For years, the Cape Cod Baseball League had two divisions: Upper and Lower (based on geography, not quality).

J Sharkey on January 7, 2008 04:00 PM.

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