I've learned to question what is meant when someone tells me to go down (that didn't come out the way I meant it ) when giving me directions. The lack of correlation with compass points seems to be prevalent.

More confusing are all the regional idioms which require knowledge of local history and geography, but the integration of cultural references makes for richer exchanges. In Michigan, for example, our terms for each other -- yuper, fudgie and troll -- would make no sense to outsiders, but can identify the geographic origins of both subject and speaker.