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down under

Annakrutitskaya

Senior Member
Russian
Hello!
Would you use "down under" as a reference of some faraway land in modern English (British and American)?

For example, "Maybe it is a common behavior down under from where he comes." in ironic sense meaning faraway land

"Shall we go skiing down under this winter" literal sense meaning Australia or New Zealand

Thank you!
"Down under" means a place which is roughly antipodal, but it is only really applied to Australia and New Zealand, sometimes only Australia. As I write this I am antipodal to Morocco, I would never say Morocco is 'down under'.
The only place that I associate with the use of "down under" is Australia.
"Down under" means a place which is roughly antipodal, but it is only really applied to Australia and New Zealand, sometimes only Australia.

All the dictionaries I consulted online which have a paper-printed version mention both Australia and New Zealand. Curiously, Wiktionary mentions only Australia.
You can apply it to both, and I have heard it applied to both. However, if you said to the average BE speaker "I'm going down under", they would assume you meant 'stralia.
Thank you very much everyone! Now I understand that I can't use it as a reference to any faraway land as those they talk about in fairy tales )
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