English quote from Rick Ross...

dass "läuft bei mir" kürzlich ein Jugendwort des Jahres war. - wie wurde das eigentlich übersetzt ?

Is closer to the original and with more of a sense of chaos instead of the depressing “backwards and downwards”, if so intended.

it's going - backwards and downhill, but it's going.

The problem with "downhill" is that in AE that is a good thing. That's why, IMO, "downwards" is better. (#2)

HW's post surprises me.

I don't agree with HW at all. "Downhill" can very well be a negative thing, especially in terms of someone's life. "It's been all downhill with him ever since his wife died / since his accident" is not something I would understand to have a positive meaning. I don't know were HW gets that idea of "downhill" always being positive.

I have now wasted half an hour trying to get my computer to copy and paste from M-W, which defines (and gives examples for) "downhill" as meaning being easy or easier. (Someone will need to do the copy/paste thing for me today.)

I suspect the point is that both in AE and BE, figuratively it is negative

Yes, it can be negative in AE, but why not use the unambiguous "downwards"?

re #15 : is it this ? (from the link in #14) :

OT: "Das Leben ist wie eine Lawine. Mal geht es hinunter, mal auch wieder hinauf." (Graf Bobby)

Thanks, no me bre. Yes, what you have provided there is part of what I had hoped to include in my post--but there are also some good "examples" shown after the part you have provided. (Anyone interested can see the examples in the link in #14.)

You're talking out of two sides of your mouth now, HW (is that your lawyer training showing?) because in #11 you say, "The problem with "downhill" is that in AE that is a good thing." Then, in #15 and after having been shown that it can also have a negative connotation, you suddenly say, "Of course it can also mean a negative." Well, which is it? Yes? No? Maybe? Maybe both?

re #20 ... here we go :

Re #21. Which is it? I just answered that question in #15.

Gee, what does that prove now? That is why I personally get very frustrated "discussing" things with you at times; you tend to always have an excuse for your point of view, even if you were proven wrong.

Edit: it's usually also the reason I don't post anything after you've had your say (this obviously being the rare exception tense days).

I was not proven wrong--indeed, proven right. The word "downhill" has both meanings. Or are you one of those extremely rare people who can write but cannot read?

Fuck you, HappyWarrior! Twist this any way you want to - it's what you do best. You won't see me on here again. 

#22: tends to confirm the not unimportant point I made in #19 - figuratively downhill is negative (in BE at least), in many contexts obviously not.  

Möchte nur kurz zur Diskussion beisteuern, dass ich - kurz nach der Lektüre dieses Fadens - zufällig gerade von "downward action" in negativer Konnotation gelesen habe, nämlich in einem Geleitwort zu "The Sport of the Gods" von Paul Laurence Dunbar. Es geht dabei um den moralischen Verfall schwarzer Migranten, die sich um 1900 in New York niederlassen.