Out/over/down here/there

Question

Sometimes I'm watching TV, a video or listening music, then I frequently hear these expressions and with lots of different meanings. So can someone explain me the use of each one of these expressions?

Out here/there
Over here/there
Down here/there

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

These are the meanings that come first to my mind. There may be others.

"here" means where the speaker is located. "there" means some place away from where the speaker is located.

"out" can mean outside a building (contrasted with inside), or it can mean in a far-flung place, away from a location that is perceived as central.

"over" refers in a non-specific way, often with the broad idea of "across", to the separation between the speaker and the audience, or between the speaker and a location that is perceived as central or as the focus of attention. It can mean a short distance (across a room, say), or a longer distance (across a town).

"up"/"down" can mean in a physically higher/lower place, or can refer to one location relative to another when there is no relevant difference in elevation. In the second usage, the choice of "up" or "down" is context-sensitive, or idiomatic, or arbitrary.

CalifJim · Answer

[ in / out / up / down / over ] [ here / there ]

=

[inside / outside or away from / upward from / downward from / across a distance from] [where I am / away from where I am]

As you knock on a door you might be wondering if anyone is "in there" (inside, away from you). The person in the house may be wondering who is "out there" (outside, away from him) at the door. As you are knocking on the door, you are "out here" and the other person is "in there". From the viewpoint of the person answering the door, you are "out there" and he is "in here".

By extension, anyone who isn't making a lot of sense is "out there", as if at an extreme distance away, out in space. Sometimes we say that a person's ideas are "out there" if they are very impractical or far from the ideas of most people.

You would like someone on the other side of the room to come to you. You ask him to "come over here" (come across a distance to where you are). He does. He was "over there" (across a distance away from you); now he's "over here" (having crossed a distance, he is now where you are).

up and down are used literally. If you are at the top of the stairs, and I am at the bottom, you are up there and I am down here from my point of view. From your point of view, however, I am down there and you are up here. You can ask me to toss something "up here" (to me), and I then toss it, from my viewpoint, "up there" (to you). Or you can toss something "down there" (to me). I see it as your tossing it "down here" (to me).

up and down are also used figuratively. Geographically, including on a map, north is "up", and south is "down". (East and west are both "over".) So if I live in Paris, for example, I can go "down" (south) to Rome. If I live in Atlanta, I can go "up" (north) to New York.

Also, along rivers, "up" may mean "toward the source of the current" while "down" means "in the direction of the current".

CJ

Makaay · Answer

Thanks for both answers

Ample · Answer

When do we use there and when over there.
Also when is in used and when is inside used?

Out/over/down here/there

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