Learn English – “It’s all downhill from here”—meaning and etymology

ambiguityetymologyexpressionsmeaningphrases

The phrase "it was all downhill from there" seems to have two, contradictory meanings.

The first indicates that things have since gotten a lot worse. For example (from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2213152-jacksonville-jaguars-awards-at-quarter-mark-of-the-2014-nfl-season):

After a promising first half against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 in which they jumped out to a 17-0 lead, it has been all downhill from there. They lost that game 34-17 and lost their next three games by a combined score of 118-41.

While the second means the opposite thing–that the hard part is over and it's all smooth sailing now. For example (from http://www.wesh.com/weather/hurricanes/sept-10-marks-peak-of-atlantic-hurricane-season/27985138):

September 10. That's the official peak of hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin. It's all downhill from here to the end of the season, November 30.

I pretty much exclusively use the phrase for the latter meaning, since to me that's more intuitive. If everything is "downhill" now, you don't have to pedal any more or work as hard to get to the bottom.

Can anyone elaborate on the origin of the phrase, what "downhill" is specifically referring to, the accepted usage, or if there are subtle differences in the way one is supposed to phrase the two different meanings?

Best Answer

Metaphor is definitely involved, and there's only one meaning.

This is a Journey metaphor theme, where Ego is moving through a 2½-Dimensional landscape.
There are a number of ways to implement this, and downhill is coherent with all of them.

One way -- a source of positive evaluation -- is the Work is a Journey theme.
In this trope, people's effort is expended pushing something up a hill, and replenished
(or at least not further expended) on the downhill side. This is good news, generally.

  • We're over the hump with the sales; it's downhill all the way for us now!
  • It'll be/We'll have easy sledding/sailing from here on. (downhill or flat only)

Another way is to focus on the landscape instead of the topography, and notice that conditions
change as one proceeds downward, and that they do not change for the better. This is a variant of Down Is Bad.

  • Things have been going downhill around here for a long time.
  • Detroit went downhill long ago; Atlanta will go downhill someday.
  • The quality of their airconditioning has been going downhill for a long time.

As the examples show, these metaphors are available in various flavors for different applications.

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