Lovers of the English language might enjoy this. It is yet another example
of why people learning English have trouble with the language. Learning the
nuances of English makes it a difficult language.
There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than
any other two-letter word, and that word is ‘UP.’ It is listed in the
dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the
list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the
officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a
report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish
UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP
the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP
trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To
be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped
UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to
be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the
dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page
and can add UP to about thirty definitions
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is
used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may
wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out
we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does
not rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on & on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now. My time is UP, so time
to shut UP!
Oh – one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning & the
last thing you do at night?
U P
Screw UP your courage to the sticking point. Tell everyone you look UP in
your address book about this dilemma (while remaining on the UP and UP.)
And now I’ll shut up.
[thanks and a hat-tip to Bob J for keeping me UP on this topic]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin, www.grif.net
“Jesus knows me, this I love”