# turn the AC up! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 1999, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869 "1999-10-05T07:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![1420Vel.GN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/35a633/32.png) [@1420Vel.GN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1420Vel.GN)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/1 "1999-10-05T07:08:00Z")
for cooler temps, does one ask for the AC to be turned up or down? ---
**Author:** ![Felinecare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Felinecare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Felinecare)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/2 "1999-10-05T12:56:00Z")
Down. But you’ll get a better result by saying _It’s roasting in here! Do something with the AC!_ ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/3 "1999-10-05T13:08:00Z")
## I’d say you turn the AC _up_ in order to get the temperature _down_, does that make any sense ?? Coldfire * * * “You know how complex women are” - Neil Peart, Rush (1993) ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/4 "1999-10-05T14:38:00Z")
This is a question I’m glad my wife and I worked out. She once asked me to go downstairs and turn the AC down. I was cold, but knowing that she and I don’t always feel the same, I asked for clarification. She agreed that there was some ambiguity, so she restated “turn the AC _colder_.” She still says colder/warmer. ---
**Author:** ![TheDoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@TheDoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheDoll)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/5 "1999-10-05T14:42:00Z")
I wonder if this has anything to do with where you are from… I say “Turn the AC down” when I am too cold. And “Turn the heat up” when I am too cold. Something I have never once thought of. Hee hee hee ---
**Author:** ![Melatonin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@Melatonin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melatonin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/6 "1999-10-05T20:37:00Z")
## œùûå ùà åðó çóùçäó ˜ ëòùö Most of the people I know in Florida would say ‘Turn the Ac up, it’s freezing in here.’ Life is short. Make fun of it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/7 "1999-10-05T21:04:00Z")
It’s turn the AC up, turn the _thermostat_ down. Likewise, if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it… Yes, it makes a _sound._ (sound waves occur) No, it does not make a _noise_. (“noise” is the _perception_ of sound) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/8 "1999-10-05T21:06:00Z")
Correction: _hearing_ is the perception of sound; _noise_ is sound percieved. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/9 "1999-10-05T21:31:00Z")
No, _hearing_ is the arraignment. _Arrest_ is when you’re taken into custody. I vote with whoever said “turn the A/C up, turn the thermostat down”. ## We don’t use much A/C here in Seattle. Ask me about bumbershoots. “If you had manifested _fatigue_ upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest _surprise_ was to be again an ass.” Mark Twain _Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc_ ---
**Author:** ![Kakkerlak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@Kakkerlak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakkerlak)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/10 "1999-10-06T02:58:00Z")
I’m voting for the bipolar “turn the (applicance) up/down”, in which we really mean to increase or decrease the fan speed, rheostat setting, or valve opening, thusly: To turn the AC up will decrease the temperature. To turn the heat up will increase the temperature. In most heating and cooling applications, the media we’re using to change our average atmospheric temperature is always the same temperature, it’s how much of it we’re using that makes the difference. In radiative heaters, I’ll have to concede an exception. I grew up thinking air conditioning, especially in cars, was a luxury of the weak. Roll down the window and turn up the Springsteen, that’s my method. * * * “You can’t tell me what sucks!” - Beavis, a true Objectivist ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-ac-up/8869/11 "1999-10-06T04:52:00Z")
**pluto** : Nice wordplay. Thanks for agreeing with me. _Bumbershoot_ is so much more fun than _umbrella_. Great sig line, too.