help with phrase of head
Hi everyone,
why do 'head up' and 'head down' mean 'go north' and 'go south'. Is there any difference between these 'head' phrase and 'go' phrase? Additionally, head over means go over , head inside means go inside, and head back means go back. Which ones are more common in your daily life?

And how do you use 'head off' and 'head for'?

Thanks

Question

help with phrase of head
Hi everyone,
why do 'head up' and 'head down' mean 'go north' and 'go south'. Is there any difference between these 'head' phrase and 'go' phrase? Additionally, head over means go over , head inside means go inside, and head back means go back. Which ones are more common in your daily life?

And how do you use 'head off' and 'head for'?

Thanks

Answer

"head up" means go north in the sense that when you look at a map, north is usually up. Similarly with down and south.  "Head" as a verb meaning "go" I think comes from the noun "heading", which means direction.

Answer

"Head" (as a verb) implies a certain direction or destination. "Go" has a more general meaning, especially in phrasal verbs and collocations (eg. go shopping; how's it going?).