Hi, 4Greens; when I was an apprentice and a trainee pilot we were told that "up is on" was a safety feature, based on the idea that a quick downward swipe could be used to turn off any switch in an emergency. The idea became an international standard for aviation. American household switches apparently work the same way for the same reason, but British and Australian switches treat "down" as a positive, "on" motion and "up" as a negative and therefore "off" motion.