Downs Are Not Down

[FredPuli43]

Why are the Downs not called the Ups ? They are hills. They are low hills, but still hills.

[Canary42]

'Downs' is from dun meaning, amongst other things, 'hill'. The word acquired the sense of 'elevated rolling grassland' around the fourteenth century

[FredPuli43]

Ta. Obvious, really!

[Canary42]

Not really, I must confess I pinched that from wiki.answers.com :(

[FredPuli43]

Don't spoil it ! I'll apply to have that last answer deleted :-)

[doctordb]

You can't beat the Wiltshire downs.

[Old_Geezer]

Was it getting you down ?

[Old_Geezer]

I recall, as a kid, mother sometimes asking if I wanted to go up the downs.

[FredPuli43]

Re The North Downs:

Look, the Hog's Back.

Is he? I didn't know he'd been away.

[Ancient joke,Sellar and Yeatman, c. 1933]