Up, Down, Over, Etc.

I finally got off my duff to ask the brightest of my Irish friends (all women), what rationale there is to the seemingly innate way one knows exactly whether or not one is going 'over', 'back', 'up', etc. to towns in Ireland. The best I can come up with is there exists a bit of snobbery in the land of Céad Míle Fáilte. For instance, one always goes 'up' to Dublin as Dublin is the capital. Everything is 'down' from Dublin unless one is going home; then one goes 'back'. Though Kinsale is considered much more up market than a town like Carrigaline, it didn't used to be so it is still maintained one goes 'down' to Kinsale from Carrigaline. Carrigaline is about the same as Macroom; so one could easily go 'over' to Macroom. Get the idea? Of course, some simplify it by saying it's like a map stood upright, i.e., if a town is north of you you go 'up' to it, and if it's south.....

Here are some of the most important cities in Ireland:

Dublin: culture; industry
Cork: Gay scene; hurling; drink
Limerick: stabbings; awful weather
Galway: 'City of Tribes'; music (New Age)
Waterford: finance; culture; sailing
Kilkenny: big medieval village; can't get lost; handicrafts

and here are some examples of the way some words are pronounced and what some idioms mean:

battery = bat-tree
film = fill-em
teeth = teet
column = kahl-yoom
chimney = chim-lee
thirty-three and a third = tirty tree anda turd
thumb = tum
pattern = pat-tren
Tom Thumb = tom tum
come here = listen
go away = I don't believe you
lashing = pouring (rain)
langers = drunk
'feckin = totally absurd notion trading a 'u' for an 'e' makes it acceptable - even in front of children.
is after = (a direct translation from Irish grammatical structures) usually means past tense
tea = supper, afternoon or evening meal, usually but not always where food is cold e.g. a salad of ham, tomato, cucumber and potato salad. Where it is a formal meal, such as when the priest comes to visit, it is High Tea.
supper = dinner, evening meal where food hot or cold. Also, snack late at night, often consisting of Jacobs Cream Crackers, Calvita cheese and Horlicks.