Fall down a hatch/hole?

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Ashraful Haque

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Is falling off a cliff the same as falling down a mountain? Think of the fall above all- falling off this is not the same as falling off this.

In the second image I can see a huge mountain with lots of cliffs. Are all of them cliffs?
 

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GoesStation

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Here's a particularly dramatic cliff. I've been on top of Half Dome (in Yosemite National Park, California). I went up the "easy" way, which was far from easy.
28549.jpg
 

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It's impressive. (It looks like an aerial shot.)
 

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It's impressive. (It looks like an aerial shot.)
It could be, but I think Half Dome looks like that from across the valley.
 

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Ashraful Haque

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Did you understand that "travel towards" is connected to "the ground"? Here's the general sequence of events that happens to someone who falls off a cliff, and then someone who falls down a hill:

You are on [top of] a cliff. You fall off the cliff. You are falling through the air. You are travelling towards the ground. You hit the ground.

You are on a hill. You fall down the hill. You are not in the air. You are in contact with the ground at all times, rolling over and over until you finally reach the point where the hill finishes and the flat ground begins. Then you stop (hopefully).
I'm guessing we say 'down' for stairs, ladder, steps, bank because they all slope down just like mountains?
 

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I'm guessing we say 'down' for stairs, ladder, steps, bank because they all slope down just like mountains?
Yes. People sometimes reverse it for a jocular effect: I tripped and fell up the stairs.
 

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Well, it is possible to fall while going upstairs. Thankfully, you don't fall very far if that happens.
 

Ashraful Haque

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Yes. People sometimes reverse it for a jocular effect: I tripped and fell up the stairs.

Way too confusing for a non-native speaker like me. I think I'll stick to "I tripped and fell down the stairs" for now.
 
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