wrong side of the tracks

English

Etymology

Originated from municipalities where the sections were divided by railway tracks.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

wrong side of the tracks (plural wrong sides of the tracks)

1. (idiomatic) The part of town that is not inhabited by the wealthy. An area where the working class, poor or extremely poor live.

   He grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but he made a success of himself.

   • 1893 June 29, “City and Vicinity”, in The Burlington Free Press and Times, volume 50, number 154, page 8:

     An arc electric light has been put toward the north side of the depot, […] As one gentleman expressed it, the people can more quickly see that they are on the "wrong side of the track."

   • 2011, Douglas Kennedy, The Moment, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 173:

     “Can you come over to the wrong side of the tracks?” she asked, an amused dryness underscoring the delivery of that question. “Always.” “I was, of course, referring to geographical matters. You live in the more chic part of Kreuzberg.”

   • 2022 March 31, David Yaffe-Bellany, “Ben McKenzie Would Like a Word With the Crypto Bros”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Mr. McKenzie rose to prominence in the early 2000s playing Ryan Atwood, a brooding, musclebound teenager from the wrong side of the tracks who moves in with a wealthy family in Newport Beach, Calif.

Synonyms

• other side of the tracks
• wrong side of town

Translations

poor part of town

• Finnish: laitakaupunki

See also

• get up on the wrong side of the bed