invited him down

English translation: invited him to visit us

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:invited him down
Selected answer:invited him to visit us
Entered by: Jack Doughty

06:41 Nov 28, 2016
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: invited him down
Hello everyone,

"A couple of nights later we had a send‑off for Kamil in the gym. Everybody came down. Some said a few words of remembrance. It was an emotional occasion, particularly for Kamil’s brother. We **invited him down** and I presented him with a BJJ black belt on Kamil’s behalf. We all raised some money to send Kamil’s body back to his family in Poland."

What's the meaning of "down" in "invited him down"?
Is it used to indicate that the occasion for which he was invited was sad?

Or does it simply mean downstairs?

Thank you.
Mikhail Korolev
Local time: 21:49
invited him to visit us
Explanation:
You might say that "down" doesn't really mean anything, but it is customary to say it. Or less commonly, "up". "Down if from north to south, or to a major city, or university. "Up" if from south to north.

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Note added at 21 mins (2016-11-28 07:03:19 GMT)
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Or "up" to university.
Selected response from:

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:49
Grading comment
Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Jack.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +9invited him to visit us
Jack Doughty
5 +7invited him
Tony M


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +7
invited him


Explanation:
There is no speical significance to 'down' here, it must be related to your wider context; note at the beginning it also says "Everybody came down." So the writer clearly perceives some sense of 'down' in relation to where the event was held: it could conceivably be something like 'to the gym downtown' or to the gym in the south of the country' or 'to the gym in the basement of the building'.

Normally, in EN, we might round off the hanging 'come' with something like 'along' — the fact the writer chose 'down' may or may not have any particular significance; it's the sort of tag-on word that often has no translation value, like "Do you want to come down the shops with me?" — 'up' and 'down' are soemtimes used like this in a way that has no specific positional sense (high/low, north/south, etc.) but simply indicates 'somewhere other than here' — "I'm just going to take the dog for a walk down the road"; "I'm just going to pop up to the village for a newspaper"

I would say here it has not translation value as such.

Tony M
France
Local time: 19:49
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 309

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
30 mins
  -> Thanks, Jack!

agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Yasutomo-san!

agree  Thayenga: :)
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Thayenga!

agree  Yvonne Gallagher: just a tag = "come along"
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, G!

agree  acetran
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Ace!

agree  AllegroTrans
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, C!

agree  Darius Saczuk
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Darius!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +9
invited him to visit us


Explanation:
You might say that "down" doesn't really mean anything, but it is customary to say it. Or less commonly, "up". "Down if from north to south, or to a major city, or university. "Up" if from south to north.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 mins (2016-11-28 07:03:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or "up" to university.

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:49
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 370
Grading comment
Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Jack.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter Simon
3 mins
  -> Thank you.

agree  Tony M
3 mins
  -> Thank you.

agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
1 hr
  -> Thank you.

agree  Thayenga: :)
1 hr
  -> Thank you.

agree  Yvonne Gallagher: just a tag = come along and "down" not necessarily north or south in Dublin as it depends on the speaker's viewpoint
2 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  writeaway
2 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  B D Finch: I think it can variously mean: nothing in particular, south, a geographically lower place, going from a metropolis to somewhere in the country.
3 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  AllegroTrans
5 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  Darius Saczuk
5 hrs
  -> Thank you.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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