word-choiceword-meaning
My earliest childhood memory is of the swaying limbs of Golden
Delicious apple trees. Rows of them stood next to a dirt road that
separated our orchard from the front yard.The Kentucky summer sky hung hot behind those high twigs, their leaves leathery green on top, soft as down underneath.
Frank Browning,“Sweet Temptation,” Reader’s Digest
Why, both down and underneath and not one of them; for example, underneath?
Is it emphasis? Sentence rhythm if you will?
The following four positions are obvious
the green circle is behind the red square
the red square is in front of the green circlethe blue triangle is below the red square
the red square is above the blue triangle
If a specific frame of reference is given, i.e. the upper-left hand-corner, then
the blue triangle is beneath the red square
the blue triangle is below the red square
the blue triangle is underneath the red square
the blue triangle is lower than the red squarethe red square is above the blue triangle
the red square is on top of the blue triangle
the red square is higher than the blue triangleThe green circle is still behind the red square
The red square is still on top of the green circle
Why usually is the word “halfway” used with “down” rather than “up”?
I doubted that. I can't imagine that there is some kind of rule to use down rather than up. It's possible, but I didn't see one. I looked to Ngram.
So the usage looks roughly even, at least in recent years.
One reason you might use one over the other is perspective. For example, in a larger context (like a story), if you want your audience to visualize themselves looking down at the nest (fixed, not moving), then you might use halfway down. If you want your audience to visualize themselves looking up (at the base of the cliff) at the nest, then you might use halfway up.
In a slightly different use, imagine a group that is at the top of a cliff and they have a friend climbing up. He reaches the halfway point and one of the friends reports "He's halfway up the cliff." In this case, halfway up implies that he is moving and he is moving up. You can construct a similar case for halfway down.
The given exercise/example is so brief that I don't really see a difference. It's possible that the author was "looking down" or wanted the reader to look down, but I think either choice, down or up, is equally likely and acceptable.
Best Answer
"Down" has a second meaning here. It is used to reference down feathers, a type of feather known for being soft.
The phrase "soft as down" is just a poetic way to emphasize something being extremely smooth and soft feeling. The quoted text is using that phrase referring to the underside of the leaves.