The End is Near (which is neither up, nor down)

Have you ever noticed that looking up, or looking down on someone, or something, constantly plays out in our everyday verbal lives, taking on both literal and metaphorical qualities? We look up to the houses on the hill, with their “Kodak Moment” panoramic views, and their vertically raised property values. Or we aspire, and envy, the penthouse life at the top of our building. There’s top shelf liquor, the height of elegance, ascending influence, elevated status, raising pertinent questions, up and away, rising to the occasion, floating an idea, the peak of perfection, being high on life, or being a member of the upper class (and don’t forget upper crust).

We fear winding up in the gutter (which actually has both an up and a down reference in it). You can be on the bottom rung, or feeling down, or a lowlife, or sub-human, or an act or deed can be beneath you. There’s the downward spiral, feeling under the weather, a hit below the belt, lowering expectations (or the boom), falling for a lie, being stuck in the mud, understated (could be a positive), having a short temper, being a bottom dweller, hitting rock bottom, fighting an uphill battle, or descending in rank.

Getting in on the ground floor indicates good fortune, or a shrewd move, but only because it infers climbing higher, ascending to greater heights. Being upwardly mobile conveys similar qualities. Substructure is pretty neutral, having no actual negative connotations, other than being forever beneath everything else. Having a good foundation is also something to be desired, but it’s a supportive condition, there only to permit everything else built upon it that succeeds.

Drop dead gorgeous seems to buck the trend of obvious negative low connotations (the drop part)… though when you add the word dead to anything, it’s meaning almost always seems to get turned on its head. Dead Ringer is a good example of this, and a bizarre phrase when you stop and think about it. Dead set. Dead on. Dead reckoning. Dead in the water, however, is just as it sounds.

Then there’s the outright, defiant rule breakers, the down words that convey goodness and worth: To fall in love. To drop and give thanks. Down home. Down to Earth. Lowering prices. Getting the drop on someone. Deep pockets.

Then you’ve got the high words with negative implications: The height of arrogance, high crimes, highly unorthodox (could be good - could be upsetting), highly contagious, high treason, to overshoot, upper limits (seeming to threaten wax wings melted by the sun, or the range where we cease to exist).

Shortstop really is neither here nor there, just as a sub-continent is more descriptive than judgmental, and a sunken living room might on first hearing seem a negative, but in general is consider an architectural luxury. High rise seems neutral, as does the hi-ball drinking tumbler.

Deep down feelings can either mean honest ones, or the feelings at your core, or perhaps that you poses hidden emotions, possibly repressed, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Plumbing the depths, or reaching deep inside of you can give you the wherewithal for success, though it implies placing yourself in a state you normally don’t reside in.

May your subsistence continue, all pains subside, and may everyone find middle ground. Sunrise, sunset, it’s still the same sun.