What do you call it orthogonal directions to Manhattan?
While in many places, the notions of “uptown” and “downtown” can be somewhat fuzzy and vague, in Manhattan, these two words have clear definitions – if you are standing on nth Street, then uptown is in the direction of n+1 th Street, while downtown is in the direction of n-1 th Street.
What do you call direct directions in physics because they are orthogonal to that? If you are standing on 8th, what do you call the direction you travel to get to 7th or 9th? What do people who reside in New York City call the directions? How would a person describe its directions (as a naturalist?) from north to east. Possible options (but I have no idea which of these, if
any, are actually used by New Yorkers): East / west (since Manhattan is sort-of-but-not-really oriented to the compass directions)
- towards the Hudson River (but does anybody actually say this? I feel like
- I’m already off the compass at this point but I have nothing to do with it, so I will not What should
- an SS1 map look like against the roads along the Manhattan coast, like towards Narrows or the Henry Hudson Parkway (but again, does anybody say this? Can you
doubt and defend your feelings?
The orthogonal travel to uptown/downtown in Manhattan is crosstown.
Can you please tell me if U/D is binary and Crosstown is not? How are New Yorkers currently located? If people are coming to the West of Fifth and say they went to the East, they are going to the East! What is East of the Fifth, and why?
When current location cannot serve as the indicator or more precision is sought, a New Yorker would most probably say to the East Side or to the West Side). If you were on the West Side (say 9th Avenue) and were only going a few blocks east, (say to 7th), you might say go east to 7th. Probably the direction would not be mentioned, except to a non-native, since NYers know! Is st east and western?
Why do New Yorkers tend to talk about the neighborhood/area to which they are heading somewhat than about the direction itself. For example, in Manhattan alone we have
- the East Village
- the West Village
- SoHo
- NoHo
- Tribeca
- Midtown (sometimes Midtown East or Midtown West)
- the Upper West Side
- the Upper West side the
- Upper East Side Turtle
- Bay Chinatown
- Little
- Italy Harlem
- Harlem
- Morningside Heights
- Riverside Yorkville
- Sutton
- Place
- Chelsea the
- Flatiron
- District the Garment
- District the Theater
- District Battery Park
- Wall Street
- South Ferry
