My guess as to the americanized meaning of "gone west" is from the colonial days. Actually had 2 connotations. First connotation was that to the west (unexplored areas) was a land of opportunity. "Head west young man" meant, go and seek your fortune. Due to the same usage it also had a negative connotation. Since a young man heading west would most likely never been seen again by his family, the family left behind in the east when asked "what happened to that son of yours" would reply.. Hes gone west. Implying never to be seen again, current fate unknown, but still with implicit hope for the success of the missing family member.
Read somewhere that much ealier going west was equated with death and dying. Gone south has a few things adding to it's negative connotations. During the civil war, anything in the south (by the north) was viewed as being a bad thing. Northerners who believed in the views of the south and must be of lower intelligence. There is also a theory (that I also read somewhere I can't remember) that it has to do with General Sherman headig south to the burning of Atlanta. In addition, outlaws trying to escape justice would head towards mexico, they also "went south" Then add on to this that maps show north as up south as down, up being equated with more, down with less.. (look at stock charts. Up is good, down is bad) and you get quite a lot of weight in the "south is bad' bag of tricks. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Colin Holgate <co...@verizon.net> wrote: > I hadn't seen anyone use the expression "going west" before, so I just took > it to mean "going south", with some misdirection (as it were) for the sake of > humor. _______________________________________________ > use-revolution mailing list > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
