why do we refer to north as up?
607749
Because on the little compass North actually faces up. And we refer to south as down and east/west as right/left.It's just because of the way they face. North is the up direction. Get it?
311327
"Up" refers to getting the ball on the green (the putting surface) and "down" refers to getting the ball in the hole.\n\nIt is common for professional golfers to get "up and down" in two strokes.
1124779
Up and down, in space, on earth, anywhere are established by convention.  Up is the direction we all agree to be up.  Usually, on earth we choose toward the center of the earth or along the earths gravity gradient to be down and up to be in the opposite direction.\n\nIn a place (like most of space) without a single over-powering gravity gradient, you have to develop a different convention.  If you watch the space shuttle astronauts, they tend to follow a convetion established by the shuttle builders.  Things are arranged, labeled, etc with the assumption of a floor and a ceiling and this provides the up/down convetion.
600589
True north is the actual, geographic location of the North Pole of the Earth, that is, the axis around which the Earth rotates.  Magnetic North is where the Earth's magnetic field "exits" the surface of the planet.  It is what attracts the needle of a magnetic compass to point "north".  Because magnetic north and the north pole are not located in the same place (the magnetic north pole is currently located north of Canada and west of Greenland) in order to use a magnetic compass to navigate, you have to apply a correction factor in degrees to make up in the difference in location from geographic north.  This difference will of course change depending on where you are on the Earth's surface.
60563
The usage of the language is quite different according to the part of Italy you're in. In the North it means I love you - man to woman -, as you go down South it shifts the meaning to I am fond of you  - brother to sister, father to son.
276032
Because the gravity pulls people and all things with mass toward the center of the earth. The concept of up and down is irrelevent in space. We usually put north to top and south to bottom when we show maps or globe just out of convenience and tradition.\n\nWhen the moon is directly above us, we weigh slightly less becasue moon's mass will pull us also.
703395
the people from the north\n\n:> peace
157852
North: To be able to trade freely with other countries and to have a tariff on foreign goods so that the South would buy their things\n\nSouth: Slaves and cheap foreign goods.\n\nWest: Same as South, but they wanted more land to the West of themselves.
15807
If you define up as the direction towards the sky, and down as the direction a ball will fall when dropped, then there is no difference when you stand on the north pole, south pole or anywhere in between.\n\nThe Earth is spherical so Earth's gravity pulls in the same relative direction no matter where you are, down towards the center of the planet, so that makes down always towards your feet.\n\nAnd also since the Earth is spherical the sky will always be above your head, up. \n\nSo there is no difference in upside down or right-side up based on where you are on the Earth.
837981
London first started in what is now called York. It moved to it's current location during the 1732 "London Up Rising", You can see the where it was draged as this mark to route of the A1
701102
Higher elevation is, obviously, higher than lower. It is more above sea level. The higher the elevation the more weather you have (i.e. snow)
246269
The name is Welsh.\nBryn Mawr translates to "big hill". (bryn "hill" + mawr "big"}\nIt does not translate to "high hill". This would be "Bryn Uchel".
97941
Up -  definitely........
955624
If it wasn't for gravity, there would be no earth.  (Gravity holds the earth together.)  \n\nThe very notion of "up" and "down" *needs* gravity, or it has no meaning.  The very notion of "down" has always meant,  "in the direction of gravity", even before we knew what gravity was.  If you are in a room with no windows, how do you know which way is "down"?  Because "down" is THE DIRECTION THAT THINGS FALL.  When you stand up, it's THE DIRECTION OF YOUR FEET.  Without gravity, there is no notion of falling, and no notion of "standing up" so "down" (and "up") have no meaning.  Think of astronauts in a room with no windows on the Space Station.  They have no "up" or "down". \n\nOr think of it another way.  The notion of "up" and "down" has less to do with the direction of the earth, as with the direction of gravity.  If you are standing on the moon, or on mars, which way is "down"?  It will be in the direction things fall ... towards the planet you are standing on.  So "down" is defined relative to the current direction of gravity, regardless of what is causing that gravity.\n\nSo the earth has no "up" and "down" except with respect to gravity.  It also has no "top" or "bottom" ... the North Pole is not the top of the earth.  We just like to make maps that way, but there's no scientific reason for it.    (The Egyptions drew maps relative to the Nile river ... so the "upper Nile" is South, and the "lower Nile" is North.)
25745
you can say down if you'd like, and it would mean the same thing :) but saying "up" is probably more positive and optimistic. (as opposed to saying, "hey man, whats going down?" :)
561199
From Wikipedia\nOrientation of maps\nConventionally, on most geometrically accurate maps text is upright when the map is oriented with the north up, hence north is identified with the top of a sheet.\nThere are maps where the north isn't on top. The Hereford Mappa Mundi, about 1300, Hereford Cathedral, England is a classic "T-O" map with Jerusalem at centre, east toward the top, Europe the bottom left and Africa on the right.\n\nSo there is no reason for North being at the top of a map, other then the need for a universal convention.
305848
It means "Land", just as we write Greenland, England (Land of the Angles), Swaziland (Land of the Swazi tribe, Asian languages like Hindi use the suffix "stan" meaning "land." So Hindustan is "Land of the Hindus", Afghanistan, Land of the Afghans, but Pakistan is formed from an acronym of initials forming PAK and then "stan" for land. Strange but true.