sometimes you're down

  • 131To call down — Call Call (k[add]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Called} (k[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Calling}] [OE. callen, AS. ceallian; akin to Icel. & Sw. kalla, Dan. kalde, D. kallen to talk, prate, OHG. kall[=o]n to call; cf. Gr. ghry ein to speak, sing, Skr. gar …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 132climb up, climb down —    Climb down, as purists sometimes point out, is a patent contradiction. But there you are. Idiom has embraced it, as it has many other patent absurdities, and there is no gainsaying it now. Climb up, in contrast, is always redundant when climb… …

    Dictionary of troublesome word