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right side of the tracks



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Idioms and Phrases

The desirable part of town, as in They were relieved to learn that his fiancée came from the right side of the tracks . This expression alludes to the fact that when a railroad ran through a town, it often divided the prosperous neighborhoods from the poor ones. The latter district was called the wrong side of the tracks , as in The children from the wrong side of the tracks often came to school without having eaten breakfast . Today these terms are considered snobbish. [Second half of 1800s]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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