Question Hi, there 1) Would you help me with a question? Is there any difference betwee "three streets down" and "three streets over"? Or both mean "three blocks away"? For example: "My house is t

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Gabriel

Question Hi, there 1) Would you help me with a question? Is there any difference betwee "three streets down" and "three streets over"? Or both mean "three blocks away"? For example: "My house is three streets over/down" "I have to walk over/down only three streets to get to Starbucks"... or "I have to walk only three streets over/down to get to Starbucks" ... do they sound odd? 2)This one has to do with this map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Street_map_of_Back_Bay.jpg/300px-Street_map_of_Back_Bay.jpg Let's say I am walking down a street (Boylston) to a mall, for example, and I want to tell my friend we should, on our way back, walk down the street "over" the one we were on (Newbury) Could I use any of these? "Why don't we go back down the next street over/Newbury St) or "Why don't we walk back a different way (route)from the one we came?" Do they sound all very odd? What would you say? Thank you!!

Answers · 10

I was in NY a few years ago and found Manhattan easy to navigate because of it's grid pattern. If this is a similar layout, I would just use blocks and north, south, east and west. As for going back, just say: 'Let's go back a different way' and use some of the nice suggestions above. Over, back, down are all relative to the observer to me, therefore open to confusion. Try finding your way around London where there is nothing like a grid - black cabbies have to know all of central London and more when they do the Knowledge ;-)

Personally, I would use "down" to mean you are staying on your street and walking for 3 blocks. I would use "over" to mean you have to turn right or left off of your street and go 3 blocks to a street that is parallel to the one you are on.

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