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Old 03-Feb-2009, 16:14
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Default Using the word "UP"

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. (But then, that's probably true of many languages.)
There is a two-letter word in English that perhapshas 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 electionand 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 UPthe 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

The little upstart amazingly comes from that upscale community, where the stores put all the prices up - Oh, I think I just fucked up with a few of these as some ups are joined to a word, so I will just bugger off before I bugger up anything else!

Last edited by Searching for language; 03-Feb-2009 at 16:19.
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Old 03-Feb-2009, 18:12
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Default Re: Using the word "UP"

The word is too positive for its own good.
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