Uptown

noun UP-town ˈʌptaʊn

Also spelled up town, uptung

The wealthier, more affluent parts of Kingston — and, by extension, the whole middle- and upper-class world of money, comfort, and status. Set opposite 'downtown' both as a place and as a social class, 'uptown' names the hills and suburbs of the well-off, their schools, tastes, and manners, and the divide between uptown and downtown runs deep through Jamaican society, song, and story. To be 'uptown' is to belong to privilege, and the word carries the whole charged distance between the haves and the have-nots.

  • Dem live uptown inna big house.

    They live uptown in a big house.

  • Uptown an downtown a two different worl.

    Uptown and downtown are two different worlds.

  • She a uptown girl.

    She's an uptown (well-off) girl.

From English 'uptown'; in Kingston it maps onto the hillier, more prosperous northern and eastern districts, and became shorthand for social class.

As much a class marker as a location. Contrasted with downtown in almost every use.