I have a shell function `.` that goes up one:

    .() { if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then cd ..; else source $\*; fi; }

then

    alias ..='cd ../..'
    alias ...='cd ../../..'
    .
    .

So that "however many periods" goes up however many directory levels. Seems a coherent shorthand to me, though I guess uuuu also works.