What does 'Go down' mean?

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: GUEST,Mr Chaz
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 02:05 PM

But the Landlubber is asking (I think) whether there's any source for Napoleon himself using the phrase?

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 02:31 PM

Very little that came from the pen of a broadside hack had anything to do with historical fact. Irish ones were particularly descriptive and fanciful and of course in full sympathy with Boney, as were many ordinary people in England at first. I wouldn't waste any time trying to ascertain whether Boney or indeed any of his offspring used these expressions.

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 06:51 PM

I remember, when I was a kid, hearing "go down" used as a euphemism for "go to hell." I was pretty young at the time; these were kids who thought "hell" was too strong a word to be spoken openly. My friends at that time were Italian-American, if that has any relevance. That is, some of them had parents or grandparents who spoke Italian at home. I wonder if "go down" is a translation of an Italian expression that has that meaning?

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: Nerd
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 07:01 PM

I suspect The Bonny Bunch of Roses was written by an English hack, not an Irish one ("England and Ireland and Scotland, their unity has never been broke" could only have been written by an Englishman...)

PS: Am I the only one who chuckled when the Wikipedia author claimed that "the Irish" were monolithically "big fans" of Napoleon Bonaparte?

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: ClaireBear
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 07:02 PM

I have it! Don't know why I didn't think of it before -- it's so obvious: "go down" is English for "ranzo."

I'll, umm, get my hat.

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: semi-submersible
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 08:04 PM

Baffled Limey wrote:
I always thought (but don't know why) that ["blood red roses"] was from a band of red felt lining in a make of American sea-boot, and seen as a bright red band when the top was fashionably turned down. And by extension, any seaman from the USA.


Gumboots (= rubber boots) of various brands are typically black with red rubber treads and a narrow red band around the boot top. I wonder if this derives from the red lining you mention?

Funny how such traditions can hang on once people expect a thing to be made or to look a certain way. An Antiques Roadshow expert told a story about the brown ring so often found around the rims of bowls and plates made in England: as British potters learned to imitate high-quality imported Chinese pottery, they copied the styles of the Chinese china as well, including the red line on their rims, which in the Chinese tradition had been added as a charm to strengthen the rim (red being the colour of power/energy/chi) since the rim is the part most likely to crack in firing (being relatively thin and unsupported). Even Corningware glass plates from the USA have this ring, which I see most often in brown or red.

A Canadian fishwife

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 08:45 AM

He wears a pair of red-topped boots
and sails the black-ball line

(Version of New York Girls I do, learned from a Scandinavian group called the 'Paddy McGintys'. The mind boggles...)

Before anyone else gets bogged down in the Bonny Bunch of Roses / Napoleon discussion may I point to my first post on the subject.

Well, the bonny bunch of roses was the term used by Napoleon himself when refering to the British Isles. Marines or 'Johnnie' would have, I think, worn blue and not red. But I am still of the firm belief that I am making it all up. Or did I hear it somewhere... :-)

I thought the penultimate statement may have been a dead giveaway but apparently not.

Sigh.

D.

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: Tootler
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 10:26 AM

PoppaGator,

I remember Pete Seeger singing the song "Go down ol' Hannah" As you say it's on one of his live albums and he has quite an extensive introduction. I might still have the album, but all my vinyl albums are up in the loft and I don't currently have anything to play them on.

From what I remember of his introduction to the song, he says it was collected from a black convict in a Southern Penitentiary (I don't think he said which or even exactly where). I seem to remember he quotes the singer as saying something like "Here is a song me and the boys sometimes sing when we are feeling down".

The significance of the song, of course, is they want the sun to go down so they can finish work for the day.

Geoff

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: GUEST,rasberry cream
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 10:40 AM

There's a mining reference to it as in 'go underground' on a new album just out called 'Primary Transmission' by Broadcaster. The track is called 'Watch Yourself' and takes samples from the Radio Ballads that were broadcast on the BBC way back.

Subject: RE: What does 'Go down' mean?
From: GUEST,johnny rise her up from down below
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 11:09 AM