Something I've been ruminating on for the last day or so:
Why is up used in so many expressions? We say that we "straightened up" a dirty room, the car "sped up", the slowpoke "caught up" with the rest of the group...
There are some expressions in which up makes sense to me, such as "I got up this morning" or "I picked up the dirty socks that were on the floor." These actually involve an upwards motion, unlike the expressions in the last paragraph.
Any thoughts? Or other expressions which I didn't come up with?
Rapunzel, I haven't an answer for you, but I join in your wonder at the ubiquitousness of "up." I had occasion to read the dictionary entry on "up" once, and was amazed at how long it was, and how many different meanings such a little word could have.
I remember once reading advice to beware of using "up" to fill up space or to jazz up a plain but serviceable term, as in "she headed up the group." But it's hard to break up with such a insidious habit.....
Sometimes it seems like the shorter the word, the longer the dictionary entry.
"Up" gets into some idioms that are hard to explain. For instance "I won't put up with that."
This calls to mind that when something--a jar, or a notebook, maybe--is put up, that carries the connotation that it is shut away, behind a closed door perhaps, and won't be brought out into the open in the immediate future. So maybe when someone says they won't put up with that, they mean that they DO intend to bring it out into the open, and soon.
the more i see the examples offered forth in this thread, the more it seems that "UP" is simply an indicator of anything on the "positive" side of the spectrum; ie -depending, of course, on context - more (speed up, add up), attainment of a goal of sorts (wrap up, finish up, follow up), putting forth (pipe up, cough up, throw up), compliance with an imperative or expectation (shut up, ante up),front or pinnacle (head up, lead up), the state of being contemporary or current (whasssssssssssup, coming up) and even more intangibly indicating a definitive action (used up, broke up).
that being said, i'm wondering if there's a usage of 'up' that doesn't follow this general pattern (or have i simply forced a pattern where one does not exist? it seems clear in *my* mind, but that's not necessarily saying much)
Sometimes it seems like the shorter the word, the longer the dictionary entry.
>do any of you OEDers have a way to search for the *longest* dictionary entry? anyone want to hazard a guess?
Somewhere out there, there is a whole dictionary which is devoted to the one word in the English language which has no letters at all. You know, the one which everyone has trouble spelling?
And the page it graces is the one much poetry would approach and can only approximate--the poem delineating the silence, much as landscape does the white space in certain Asian art.
I always button up my overcoat from the bottom-up!
If one lifts their beer up high as they take a swig, one effectively matches the literal "bottoms-up"... but will this always be based on ones relation to gravity?
I really hate to "bring this UP" and, in fact, rather expected that, by now, someone else (e.g. "____" or "______" or even "_______" would have done. However, that hasn't happened, and therefore, since AWADers prefer to treat a subject fully, I will do so myself, as discreetly as the circumstances permit. Perhaps it will suffice if I mention that cult, - not farmers - who have a culture, almost religious in nature, (e.g. fertility rites) sometimes called "Viagraculture", its priests and priestesses being called "Viagraculturalists." Don't you just love their heartwarming commercials? Carry on, lads.
up has seven(7) entries [headwords] in the OED: 1 noun (7 senses), 1 verb (8 senses), 1 adj (6), 2 adv (33, 21), 2 prep (10, 7); for a total of 92 senses. I will not paste it all up.
{up the revolution.}
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what's up with the comic quiz? I am not the owl. I am either eeyore or daffy duck.
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rhyme parody up:
I think that I shall never hear a poem as lovely as a beer ... for poems are writ by fools I fear and only Schlitz can make a beer -Alfred E. Neuman
what's up with the comic quiz? I am not the owl. I am either eeyore or daffy duck.
Hey! I put that in "Non Word Stuff" for fun, fun, fun! I took the test twice as I was ambiguous about some answer-choices. BUT I didn't add up score until both were done ... came out a combo of Tweety and Pepe. Oh well. wow
more it seems that "UP" is simply an indicator of anything on the "positive" side of the spectrum; ie -depending, of course, on context .... i'm wondering if there's a usage of 'up' that doesn't follow this general pattern
bridget96, I add that regarding an up reference as always positive depends on degree as well as context; sometimes, somebody can be too up. I can't be the only one to have had occasion to tell someone to "cheer down." Or maybe I am, and I'm just ornery.
Somewhere out there, there is a whole dictionary which is devoted to the one word in the English language which has no letters at all. You know, the one which everyone has trouble spelling?
Cap,
I believe you've discovered a Cheshire Cat! Bravo!!
I believe you've discovered a Cheshire Cat! Bravo!!
IP, a plea, from Jo's excellent hints:It can be helpful if people quote a little of the post that they are replying to, to help flat-moders find out what is going on. As a staunch flatliner, I endorse that suggestion enthusiastically. Cheers.
Two posters : It can be helpful if people quote a little of the post that they are replying to, to help flat-moders find out what is going on....(and)... As a staunch flatliner, I endorse that suggestion
Ahh, er ... um.... could we ...maybe use , well, another phrase? Other than flatliner? It's just that, well, it has connotations ...!!...as in medical parlance when someone "flatlines" the nice beep beep of the heart stops making peaks on the monitor and the line goes flat and your dead. At my age "flatliner" is a bit disconcerting .... if you get my drift?
Any ideas for alternatives? Flatreaders(or flat-moder as above) might work ??? wow
Ahh, er ... um.... could we ...maybe use , well, another phrase? Other than flatliner?
Sorry, wow. I was well aware of the most common meaning of flatliner when I used it. Henceforth I shall be a flat-moder. _______________________________________________
stick up, as in armed robbery. And, while I was typing this, another occurred to me: up yours. Also, mentioned above, shut up.
Negative connotations, yes, but all three have distinctly positive (ie, in these cases, upward components), do they not?
a stick up is merely short for "stick your hands up in the air (NB: If you should try this at home, it would behoove you to use bank-appropriate stationery see related thread)
up yours i shall politely decline to elaborate, but it believe it's clear that unless the recipient is practicing some sort of inverted meditation this suggestion would quite assuredly be decriptive of an upward motion.
shut up is a bit more nebulous, but one could easily argue that this imperative is short for "shut up your mouth", and considering our physiology which forces us to raise up our lower jaw in order to meet our upper jaw, compliance would indeed involve--necessitate, even--an upward motion.
bridget, anticipating the collective rolling of eyes, obligingly shuts up, muttering 'nihil est incertius vulgo'
a plea, from Jo's excellent hints:It can be helpful if people quote a little of the post that they are replying to, to help flat-moders find out what is going on. As a staunch flatliner, I endorse that suggestion enthusiastically
I will endeavour to comply if those who are posting will also Reply to the post that they are replying to.
put up There is a usage, now somewhat archaic I suspect since my grandmother used it: put up in another sense of putting away, viz., in jars or cans (tins), as in, "I put up 50 quarts of peaches this year."
Warning: non-word addition coming: that brings back to mind the peaches she did put up. Beautiful perfect golden halves in large mason jars. And what a flavor!! In the midst of winter, you could enjoy their fantastic flavor and delicate sweetness. She had two secrets which made her peaches unrivalled: she included some of the stones in the jar, and she used some brown sugar in the syrup.
I will endeavour to comply if those who are posting will also Reply to the post that they are replying to
Okay, I've been watching for an opportune moment to bring this up. I have never made sure that I always click the Reply icon for the post I'm responding to. Two reasons: first, it was months before I realized that there was an option to be notified that there is a reply to your post, and that some people might actually be using this. (I wouldn't--I prefer being pleasantly surprised.) So, I would always just click the Reply icon on whatever the last post in the thread was, and quote from whichever post I was actually responding to, no matter that it may have been on another page. Since my realization that I may have been doing some leading down the garden path, I have been conscientious about clicking on the actual post's Reply icon, but--- sometimes there isn't a particular post that I am posting a response to, and so--I still just click whatever the last post in the thread is. I apologize if I have inadvertantly gotten peoples' hopes up.
, i'm wondering if there's a usage of 'up' that doesn't follow this general pattern An American friend of mine used to remark, when I came home from work, "you are so uptight again", meaning irritable. "messed up", "hung up" and "tied up" don't sound very optimistic to me. Otherwise I think, "up" has very often simply kind of a reinforcing role in connection with a verb.
Thank you, Jackie. I have occasionally been responding to more than one post, but when doing so I have tried to decide which post was more influential in making me post in the first place, respond to that post and at least copy and paste a relevant bit from any other post I may be alluding to (unless it is a whole thread of posts from some other day). From a threadnodist's point of view the individual sub threads are easy to follow just from the organization on the page. This leads to our failure to understand how a flatliner could easily follow a subthread when the subject line changes (as it so often will). This is what I was referring to in the Silly comic quizz subthread, particularly when you get something like AnnaS's (a notorious flatliner and Mac sufferer) when I questioned how flatliners would be able to follow such a subthread. Well, Ms Strophic has said that she follows just fine, so I suppose I shall have to trust her and ignore the nagging doubts in my mind. But, to humor us poor benighted threadnodists, please try to keep things where they belong.
An American friend of mine used to remark, when I came home from work, "you are so uptight again", meaning irritable. Otherwise I think, "up" has very often simply kind of a reinforcing role in connection with a verb.
Hint of a possible reason for this difference:
The opposite of "uptight" is "hang loose" which refers to the sometimes less frequent state of male anatomy. (again, without prejudice)
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(I only responded to this because of its author.)
