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down south
DCHP-2 (Jun 2016)
1adv. — Geography
further south; often the highly populated belt close to the Canada-US border.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — The general definition of down south in the OED-3 (s.v. "down" (31)) is simply "in or into the south". Consequently, the expression takes on very different meanings depending on the location of use. In the US, for example, it has long been used in reference to the southeastern and south-central states, with citations dating back to 1834 (see DAE, s.v. "down south"). In Canada, down south is often used to refer to the densely populated regions just above the border with the US (for examples of specific cities, see the 1977 and 1985 quotations). However, sometimes it is used by those from the far north to refer to areas like Muskoka (see the 1924 quotation) or the Peace River Country (see the 1954 quotations) that are south of where they come from, but north of the major cities. Muskoka is 200 km north of Toronto; the Peace River country is 500 km north of Edmonton.
Quotations
1924
In one of the sunny rooms of the Muskoka Hospital for Consumptives he is resting and recovering through the long quiet days. He looks out over pretty Lake Muskoka, away down south towards Toronto, planning for the happy day when the train will bear him to home and family.
1954
. . . the monotonous swish of the crosscut saw which, away down south in the Peace River country, I had come to know as "the homesteader's fiddle."
1969
Many people in northern communities have to travel to the south for medical and dental attention, but the cost of their transportation is not tax deductible. [...] "The north isn't a bad place to live if you can get down south once in a while where the action is."
1977
Finally, after five weeks a bed was found for the girl at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. "That means her mother has to travel miles if she wants to see her," Dr. Buksa said. "There have been other cases where families have had to relocate down south because one of their members needed treatment that wasn't available [in Prince George]."
1985
My friend is a committed Greenlander. He was in town to scout out the new Malouf commission, the inquiry into the seal-hunt industry being run by Justice Albert Malouf of Olympics and James Bay fame. The Greenland Inuit have been invited to testify somewhere along the line, and he came down south to balmy Montreal and Toronto to catch the opening days of the hearing.
2008
HE UNIFORM THAT WE had been measured for during our orientation down south arrived in a huge parcel from Edmonton. We opened it with some trepidation and found that they would be of some use and we would just have to ignore the colour!
2adv. — Geography
in or into the United States.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — While down south in Canadian English can be used to refer to the highly populated belt just north of the Canada-US border (see meaning 1), it can also refer to the United States. Though usually not listed in Canadian desk dictionaries, there is significant Canadian evidence for this meaning, together with a long pedigree.
Quotations
1858
I was acquainted with William Townsend in Dunnville two years before the murder of Richards. [...] I told Iles I could not swear to that man, as I did not know him at all. Iles said he had changed very much by going down South. No person asked me to go before the U.S. Commissioner. No one told me not to go. I do not think the prisoner is Townsend.
1937
"You've got to get hot and stay hot to win one of these open tourneys," declared a Canadian pro during the recent General Brock event. Then he enlarged on this statement by pointing out that some one of the army of American pros -- the lads who play the winter circuit down south and have little or no work to do at their home club -- some one of them is sure to get hot and stay hot enough to win the money north of the border.
1965
"The U.S. is finding that water is one of its most valuable and becoming one of its scarcest resources and we have, well, we have lots of water," Mr. Pearson said. "...we will be discussing this with the U.S. who are very anxious to work out arrangements by which some of our water resources are moved down south."
1978
Tired of communing with snarling bus drivers? Want to commune with nature? You can do so, in style, if you purchase a farm (it'd be called a plantation, down south) we saw advertised recently[...] The extras may be just the thing(s) for the family (families) living the simple life on that Connecticut farm.
1985
The rave meter has blown off the top of the scale Stateside for How Will The Wolf Survive?, the new LP by the sensational East L.A. Mexican-American group Los Lobos. The album's been out for ever down south, and has already made the year end top 10 of many critics. It's also due here next week, and about time too.
1995
For all that, Canada appears to have far fewer permanent tax exiles than snowbirds, retirees who spend several months down south each winter and return home every spring.
2014
Easing gridlock's grip; Advanced traffic signals are already alleviating headaches down south. So why is Canada still idling at a red light?
[...]
Projects stewarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation have shown that reducing traffic congestion has manifold benefits. The SURTRAC adaptive traffic control system implemented at some 20 Pittsburgh intersections has reduced travel time by 25% and reduced GHG emissions by 21%. Canada, which seeks to reduce its 2005 GHG levels by 20% by 2020 - with vehicles accounting for 13% of those levels - has nothing, or nearly nothing, like it.
References
- DAE
- OED-3