Is "down" used this way with a certain frequency?

My own speculation, this may be related to [Downtown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown) In New England, we don't say we're going "to Cape Cod", we just say we're going "down the cape"

Very frequently, and in many cases (but not always) it has geographical connotations. For example, as somebody who lives in Ottawa, Ontario, I'd say that I'm going "down to Toronto" for a trip, but "up to Québec" because one is to the south and one is to the north. Also it is commonly used when referring to going downtown, as well as when you're actually physically going down a notable hill or valley.

Yes. It's very common in the US. Usually there is a vague notion of the place you're going "down" to being either a) at a lower elevation; or b) geographically south of your location. You wouldn't say "down to Canada." We say "down to Mexico" all the time. Also, I, personally, wouldn't say "down to the post office" if the post office is on a hill. Maybe some folks would. We say "down to the shore" because it's at sea level and almost everywhere else is higher than that. None of this very strictly enforced, really. We also say "down the street" or "up the street" interchangeably.

In the UK, at least in certain circles/strata of society, one would talk of going up to town and down to the country, though this is not culturally common these days. (One can also be "up" while at university, particularly Oxford or Cambridge, and be "sent down" when rusticated, i.e. forced to leave the university and return to the country (even if one's family home is actually in a city).)

Yes, this is fairly common. It doesn't even necessarily need to be local either. For example, I live near Philadelphia, and people say things like, 'I'm going down to Atlantic City this weekend' or 'I'm going to down to LBI' all the time even though both those locations are over an hour's drive away.

Yeah, New Yorkers, North Jersey people, Philadelphians, all say “going down the shore” to say they’re going to one of the beaches of New Jersey

In Australia it is very common to say down or if you're going north you say 'up'

I grew up around Pittsburgh and heard it a lot. Now I live in New York and I don't hear it. I think because NYC is flat. I guess you could say "down" for places that are far south on the map, but not down at the post office. Around Pittsburgh, you could say down (or up) for those places and it's not necessarily related to their elevation compared to yours.

Yes, it's common. But if it refers to longer distances of travel, a lot of people use "up" or "down" referring to how the route would appear on a map. Example: I live in Northern California. I would say "I'm going *down* to Los Angeles" since the city is south of me. If I'm going north I would say something like, "I'm going *up* to Seattle." If my long-distance destination is roughly similar on latitude, I might say "over." So from the bay area in California, you could say, "I'm going *over* to Denver." For much shorter local distances of travel, people use these words more interchangeably. It comes down to personal preference. Maybe I live on a hill, and the store is "down" to me.

Yes it’s used frequently to describe someone traveling in a direction opposite from your location, as in “Suzy is going down the road”. If you’re describing someone traveling toward your house it would be “Suzy is coming up the road”. These are used if the two locations are fairly close together, like to / from a corner store, or if you weren’t expecting Suzy to be visiting but suddenly saw her traveling toward you. If you’re talking about someone traveling toward or away from your location, and the distance is far, then it would be “Suzy is going over to / coming over from <insert location>”.

Yes. However, I would like to point out that your post title sounds a bit unnatural. It sounds as if you're asking for precisely how often, like in terms of a number or statistic, the word is used to mean this. You may have meant to say "with particular frequency" or "with any particular frequency", which both have pretty nuanced meaning (or, at least I can't think of how to explain what they mean). Anyways, to answer the post, yes. I think this meaning of "down" also often denotes a cardinal direction. "I visited my cousins down south in Alabama" or "I had to go up north to Detroit on business". You also don't explicitly have to say the cardinal direction. You could drive down to Birmingham, Ala. or up to Kalamazoo, Mich.

In certain parts of extremely rural Maine, one might say “I’m going downriver”, meaning traveling to a “big” city like Augusta (population 19,000), or even Portland (population 69,000). This is apparently a relic of when the rivers were the only practical route back to civilization, which was all (at least on the US side of the border) nearer the coast of the Gulf of Maine so that one traveled down the river to get there.

(side note) the word Frequently exists (the way you said it aint wrong but using -ly to make adjectivs into adverbs much mor usual than prepositions)

Yeah people use it like that pretty often

Yes, it’s a common expression.

If by “a certain frequency” you mean “often”, then yes. The same is true for “up” and “over”.

Where I'm from, "down" is used this way constantly. Extremely common.

I understand it, but I can see how it could be confusing so I would drop the "down" out of the sentence. If I was in California and I was going to Oregon, I might say I'm going up to Oregon, but it's not necessary. To me, it doesn't add anything to the idea that I'm going to Oregon.

It’s super common.

You can also just omit it entirely if you're not sure what to use. It sounds perfectly natural.

All the time.

My hometown is a five hour drive north east of where I live. When I go home I always say "I'm going down to visit my family"

In certain parts of the UK it's extremely common because of the glottal stop. So something like I'm off down shops or off to shop(s) is so common if you said "I'm just going down to the shops" would get you funny looks. "off \[down\] to shops, want owt".

Yes. I am down with saying this sees frequent usage.

If you live in the Philly/NJ area you hear “I’m going down the shore” *a lot*

Yes. Very common!

I do not use directional words in that manner.

Yes. Just know that it's only informal due to not always referring to a place that is relatively down from the speaker. "Going out to", "going over to", and "going up to" may be used in similar contexts and may contain info about where the location is relative to the speaker.

"Down" is also used informally to mean "willing" "Are you down to hang out tomorrow?" "Do you want to come with me to the store?" "I'm down!"

Very common frequency.

Frequency is all the time.

Another usage, in Australia at least, is to use ”up” to mean ”approach”. Eg ”He went up to someone to ask directions”. Also ”down” to mean ”moving”. Eg ”They were driving down the road”.

Very frequently

This is one of those constructions that can have a litany of additional context or meaning that's pretty unobvious, and is very geographically dependent, but I've been thinking about this a lot and want to share. Specifically for this example, all of what I'm going to say is probably regionally dependent. I live in the PNW and have family from the midwest. - I would say "I'm going down..." if I'm heading south, into a downtown region, or heading lower in elevation. - I would say "I'm going up..." if I'm heading north, away from a population center, or gaining elevation. - The same applies for "I saw him down at..." and "I saw him up at...". For example, I would never say "I saw him down at the mountain" even though I know this is a normal and natural construction for other native English speakers I've heard from people that moved to the PNW that we've got an impeccable sense of direction, and often give directions oriented to north whereas other English speakers may not. For example, I will tell people to "head north any way you can then turn left on 32nd street," a naturally understood instruction to people born here, but an often-confusing instruction to others. Similarly, "I'll meet you at the southwest corner of 5th and Washington". All this is to say that yes, both are natural for some speakers, and I wouldn't tell a speaker they were wrong to say "I'm going down to the post office outside the city on the hill," but I would squirm inside and wouldn't construct it myself. A pretty interesting distinction, in my opinion :)

All the time. You can also say "He's down there [at a place]." It can refer to going to a place or just travelling south in general. Up is the same - can be used to talk about travelling northward in general or like up a mountain.

By some. Where I’m from “down” is used if something is to the south, “up” if to the north, and “over” for east or west. AND… just eliminate the word as much as possible because it’s extra and doesn’t add anything to the communication.

The use of the words up and down originally come from railways where the direction "up" would mean going somewhere important such as a major city and "down" would mean going somewhere smaller. This has been adopted into more general use.

Where I live "down to/at" "up to/at" and "over to/at" are all common sayings.

When I was a child in a small Scottish town with only one street of shops, people would say “I’m going down the street” to mean that they were going shopping. I still live in Scotland, several hundred miles from London. When I visit the UK capital I describe it as “Going down to London” because it’s geographically a long way south of me. But people in England generally say “Going up to London” because the city is so large. Hope this all makes sense lol.

Yes 'down' is used a lot in this way, and fairly interchangeably with 'up' and other prepositions. Some communities have conventions about when to use up/down/over etc but the choice rarely changes the meaning or causes confusion. You can also just use 'to' on its own, which may be easiest. Common conventions include up/down according to physical elevation, and up/down according to a map with North at the top. In England there is an old-fashioned convention that 'up' is towards London or another important place - Oxford and Cambridge universities sometimes apply it to themselves so 'up' means at university and 'down' means away from it. British railways also often use 'up' to mean towards the hub of the network and 'down' away from it. When I grew up in Devon, in southwest England, 'upcountry' was any part of England much to the north or east of Devon (or even east Devon from west Devon, though people were kind of joking about that). In some dialects 'to' is optional in some references to place. In Standard Southern British it isn't, so my daughter will say "are we going to London?" to me (meaning central London rather than the suburb we live in), but when she is using more local dialect with her friends she'll say "are we going London?"

Very regularly

“with a certain frequency”. Just say often.

Very common .. but so is 'up' .. and very regional and dependent on the specific situation. For example I might say ' I'm going down the road' but in the North of England I think it's more likely to be 'up the road' If it's places, I'm usually thinking of the direction if I were looking at a map .. but there are exceptions .. it's most always going up to London.

There is an old song from 1965 called "Down in the Boondocks", and the first verse goes like this: >Down in the boondocks Down in the boondocks People put me down 'Cause that's the side of town I was born in I love her, she loves me But I don't fit in her society Lord have mercy on the boy From down in the boondocks Note that the songwriter uses "down" in two different ways. One is to indicate the location ("Down in the boondocks"). We don't have enough context to know if the boondocks (defined by Collins Dictionary as "a [remote](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/remote) [rural](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/rural) or [provincial](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/provincial) area") in/near this particular town is north, south, east, or west of any given location. It's just "down there, somewhere". The second use of the word "down" is when he says, "People put me down", by which he means that others criticize him for where he lives.

Typical Londoner: I'm orf dahn the West End. (Translation: I'm off down the West End, eg I am going to west central London.)

I'm off down t' pub.... I'll ask the crew down there and get back to you.

Indeed my good fellow, denizens of locations versed in anglophonic vernacular utilise this construction with a certain frequency.

yes! this is incredibly common where i live! i’m in close proximity to NYC and cape cod in massachusetts, so these phrases are incredibly common “head down to the city” “up on the cape “going down to the city for the weekend” the words down, up, and over can be used in reference to location like streets, cities, and the block system in large metropolitan areas. down and over a few blocks. up the street.

Yup.

Did I get suggested this page because of my interest in natural language processing?