Down the hall?

Question

In general, people chose friends of similar age and race. But if the friend lived down the hall(public-housing project), both age and race became a lot less important. Nearness overpowered similarity.

Exactly where is 'down the hall'? Why does people living down the hall have nearness?

Deadrat · Accepted Answer

The description is of an apartment building where apartments on the same floor share a common hallway. "Down the hall" from you means counting off several doorways from your apartment. The claim is that people made friends of their next door neighbors even if those neighbors were of a different age or race. People didn't feel the need to go "down the hall" a few doors to find friends who were similar to themselves. In other words proximity (or nearness) was a key factor in forming friendships, not age or race.

Why do people living down the hall live near to you? Because they live on the same floor of the apartment building. But if they're "down the hall," they aren't as near as your neighbor next door.

AppleFanboy · Answer

Thank you for your clear explanation. So chances are the neighbor next door will become the closest friends. And it'll be still easier to become friends with people living down the hall than people downstairs, right?

Deadrat · Answer

The original sentence doesn't say, but it seems likely you'd see your hallmates more often than the people on another floor.

Down the hall?

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