>FYI:
>
>>Glad you clarified. I thought the downs somewhere not near the ups.
>>
>>>You didn't fool me - I know what downs are. They make pillows out of them, and they do feel gentle. Chalk must refer to the color then.
>>>
>
>http://www.pbase.com/ayobami/south_downs__england
>http://gouk.about.com/od/englandtravel/ig/The-South-Downs-Way/Barley.htm
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Downs
>
>Dragan, this illustrates what I was saying about the erosion of the orig chalk mass:
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KentGeologyWealdenDomeSimple.svg

I pretty much knew that - though the etymology (from dun, would never guess) surprised me.

I don't get why feathers would be called down. But then, I've learned that in any language (specially English) there's much more history than logic.