I am walking on the mud, down and dirty!
What does "down" mean?
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down and dirty
literally refers to the mud being on ground level ("down") and being "dirty" (since it is mud).
However, it is a play on a well know idiom: "down and dirty".
To get
down and dirty
is to
to get "down" to lowest level of detail (the nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts)
and
to get "dirty"
get one's hands "dirty"
can mean to do something oneself, like a mechanic working on an engine gets into the details and gets their hands "dirty"
it can also mean to be unscrupulous, a cheater
a "dirty" dog