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Top or bottom? Help me out.


Mr. Smooth

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So there has been something I've wondered about and just have to ask. I guess this would be directed toward our UK members, as I have repeatedly heard Pattaya vloggers from the UK on their YT vids giving the directions of where they are at the present time or which direction they are about to be going to and haven't any idea how they determine which end of the road is the top and which end is the bottom.

So, to my UK friends, how the hell does this work?

Does the direction of the road have anything to do with it? Is the top and bottom based on whether the road runs in an east-west direction or a north-south direction? I've heard a few of these guys say they are at the "top of Soi 8", while standing near the 2nd Road end, so I'm to assume the Beach Road end is "the bottom" of Soi 8. Why is it not the other way? If I'm standing on Soi Pothole where the Triangle Bar is, am I near "the bottom" of Pothole while the 3rd Road end of Pothole is "the top" end?

I've never really heard this sort of phrasing from any other nationality. Is this unique to UK residents?

Could any of you kind blokes lend a helping hand to a Yank so that he might gain a better understanding of what's top and what's bottom?

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I'd use the top in the obvious way of a road running North to South.  I might use though for Beach Road running east to west, if one end was considerably more interesting than the other.

I should point out I did fail Geography at school😛 Maybe I'll take up vlogging, only ever need to go round in the same small circle!!

 

Edited by Lemondropkid
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8 minutes ago, Lemondropkid said:

I'd use the top in the obvious way of a road running North to South.  I might use though for Beach Road running east to west, if one end was considerably more interesting than the other.

Indeed! Beach Rd runs (roughly) North South.

I have had arguments with long term expats that insist that Pattaya Tai runs South purely because of its name! but they just don't get the fact that it is in "Pattaya South" and runs East West (roughly)

As for my understanding of top and bottom, it would be that (in non north south sois) "top" is more of a destination location than the "bottom" is.....i.e the top end of Bhuakhao is Klang because it goes North South but the top end of Pattaya Tai is Wat Chai because that is the destination end for most people (and no - that isn't an unintended philosophical comment!)

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Though I am not from the UK, I will say top and bottom refers to either

1) A geographical feature if the street has a slope - top of the hill, bottom of the hill

2) The housing numbers - low numbers in the bottom, higher numbers in the top

3) A one way traffic - enter at bottom, exit at top

4) A dead end road - enter at bottom, turn around at the top/end.

 

Which ever of the possibilities should be understood from context.

Edited by Lirchenfeld
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Top is the north end of a North/South Road as traditionally North is at the top of the compass.

Top is at the end of an East/West Road furthest from the sea as everything slopes towards the sea.

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25 minutes ago, KWA said:

Top is the north end of a North/South Road as traditionally North is at the top of the compass.

Top is at the end of an East/West Road furthest from the sea as everything slopes towards the sea.

Makes sense. Appreciate all the replies. Was genuinely curious.

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Not sure if I'm the only Brit answering this question, which is actually a very fair one from @Mr. Smooth.

I'm a 67 year old Brit, so perhaps times have changed, but I've been using this phrase all my life.

Personally, it has nothing to do with north/south or east/west. Geography plays a far bigger part in USA than UK, I think primarily because the US has far more space and formed their cities much later than the UK, so it made sense for US cities to use north/south and east/west to help people navigate.

In UK it's a hotch potch - most Brits wouldn't know where north, south, east or west is from where they're standing. The only guide would obviously be the sun, so in morning or evening they'd have an idea. At midday we'd be f***d . . 😂

Again personally, as @Lirchenfeld says in his reply, it's usually geographical, the top being the top of a hill, bottom the other end. Only other way is "the busy end". If a road comes out of a busy area, that would be the top.

Great question and very difficult to give an accurate answer.

Edited by Britboy
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3 hours ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

I have had arguments with long term expats that insist that Pattaya Tai runs South purely because of its name! but they just don't get the fact that it is in "Pattaya South" and runs East West (roughly)

Just ask them to explain the parallel (to Pattaya South) running Pattaya North and Pattaya Central Roads. And watch their flabber being gasted.

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13 hours ago, fygjam said:

And once that's been sorted.

How come in Ireland the morning has a top? Does it have a bottom as well?

 

 

An old Irish saying is May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

So therefore you always start at the bottom and the road rises up so you always end up at the top! And if you are at the bottom of the road you would normally be up to your neck in one of the many Irish bogs!

The saying "top of the morning to you" is a very old greeting thats very rarely used in Ireland, the only person I recall saying it was an old English man would say it to me when we met at work in the UK.

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7 hours ago, Siam Addict said:

An old Irish saying is May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

So therefore you always start at the bottom and the road rises up so you always end up at the top! And if you are at the bottom of the road you would normally be up to your neck in one of the many Irish bogs!

The saying "top of the morning to you" is a very old greeting thats very rarely used in Ireland, the only person I recall saying it was an old English man would say it to me when we met at work in the UK.

 I find "Is it not yourself there!"  to be the most inward thought provoking greeting requiring a level of self analysis on the meaning of your existence on planet earth and beyond that the only answer is to go for a pint of Smithwick's and Black Bush and mull things over for an hour or two!

It is a GIANT of a greeting !!!!

 

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54 minutes ago, biggles said:

Well, this discussion was definitely not what I expected! For the record tho, never been a bottom 😁

Figured I'd use a little play on words, biggs. I see it might have fooled a couple folks. ☺️

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2 minutes ago, KhunDon said:

Take a look at the size and quality of the houses either side of the rail tracks in the US, and you will soon figure it out. :default_coffee:

Not only in the US, there are several cities in the Netherlands where it also applies.

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