"The Wrong Side of the Tracks" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2020-10-30

0:00 - How to Say, “The wrong side of the tracks.”
0:19 - Examples of “The wrong side of the tracks.”
1:05 - Meaning of “The wrong side of the tracks.”
1:20 - Origin of “The wrong side of the tracks.”
3:40 - More Examples of “The wrong side of the tracks.”
4:33 - Conclusion

“The wrong side of the tracks.”

You might have heard someone say that a part of town was on “the wrong side of the tracks,” or in a bad, undesirable or dangerous part of town.

“He grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but he got out and is quite successful now,” a friend might be telling you about her new boyfriend.

Maybe you and a friend are driving around town, looking for a place to eat, “I think we’re on the wrong side of the tracks, we shouldn’t stop anywhere here!”

“You bought a house there? That’s on the wrong side of the tracks!” your friend might be alarmed to hear where your new home is.

As you can see, “the wrong side of the tracks” is the wrong part of town, an undesirable neighbourhood, or a dirty or dangerous area of a city.

The origin of the idiom, “the wrong side of the tracks,” comes from America at the turn of the 20th century, where towns and cities were literally divided by railroad tracks.

Back in the late 1800s/early 1900s, factories and the homes of factory workers would be found on one side of the railroad tracks running through an American town…

… while the homes of the well-to-do, the middle- or upper-class would be found on the other side, usually quite far from the factories, the industrial areas.

The idiom, “the wrong side of the tracks”, was at first used to describe the homes of the working class - those that worked, were employed in factories - but soon came to describe any undesirable part of town.

Growing up or living on “the wrong side of the tracks” isn’t necessarily an insult or pejorative - it simply means that you come from a home that perhaps isn’t as wealthy or as prosperous as the average citizen.

Obviously, coming from a disadvantaged, deprived, underprivileged, needy, poor, destitute or poverty-stricken background means that you have to work much harder to achieve success…

… but it does not preclude, exclude, prevent, deny you success if you are motivated, driven to seek improvement and success. There’s also no shame in looking for and accepting help in getting there.

“There’s a new community centre on the wrong side of the tracks, hopefully it’ll improve things for the kids over there,” you and your friend might be chatting about local matters.

Maybe you’re a salesperson at a home builder and are talking to a customer, “Yes, these new homes are being built in an area that was considered the wrong side of the tracks, but it’s gentrifying…”

“I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but with the support of my mom and her sisters, I became the first person in my family to ever go to college,” a job applicant might say.

So, the next time you want to refer to a run-down, dilapidated, poor, destitute or undesirable area of your town or city, don’t hesitate to call it “the wrong side of the tracks”.

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