Words fail me.

The weather is grey and it's getting colder every day.

There's nothing to really complain about, but I find it difficult to be positive about things. And I'm not alone in that. Some of us at school are still struggling against this negativity, others have succumbed to it and it's moan, moan, moan all day long.

That's why I've been so silent in the past days.

There was nothing to say.

But now I've got something, a phrase that keeps niggling me. I wanted to praise someone for writing great little blogs. He's got the art of writing blogs down pat. That sentence lurked in my head. Not trusting myself, I looked it up in the OALD, my favourite dictonary for a quick language query. Hm, they insist that it's have/know something off pat. That seemed off to me. A quick google confirmed that the down pat version is in use, too.

On a second look, I realize that yes, the OALD knows down pat, too, but they classify it as North American usage.

Odd, I don't think I've ever come across the British version.

Which one seems more natural to you?