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?

Dear Rapunzel: It just doesn't add up, does it?

WHASSSSSUUUP?

It just doesn't add up

Particularly since most of us add down.

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.

Well, gee, isn't it obvious that this can just be attributed to the general optomism of the human race?

Well, gee, isn't it obvious that this can just be attributed to the general optimism of the human race?


Don't you mean the uptimism?


http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/maxq/Jo's_Hints.htm

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?

"Up" gets into some idioms that are hard to explain. For instance "I won't put up with that."

"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.

And that reminds me of 'put up or shut up'.

How about "Let's wind up this meeting" and "The meeting was winding down"? Wind it up or wind it down, it's still gonna be over 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)

can someone come up with a better explanation?

[wondering-if-tsuwm-would-mind-lending-me-his-ron-obvious-tag-e]

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 has anybody ever 'buttoned up' an overcoat or indeed any item of clothing?

<<the word with no letters at all>>

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.

This page left blank on purpose

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.

---

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

---
[nod to ASp for all-in-one® postaday™]

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

Scribbler, if that cult doesn't have a slogan, perhaps they
could use 'Up with Viagra'. (I only responded to this because of its author.)

In reply to:

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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.

had occasion to tell someone to "cheer down

And others to "calm up?"

As to positive up : how about "He's up to something"?
wow

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!!

[wink as face disappears emoticon]

In reply to:

---

Cap,

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.
_______________________________________________

Here is an up phrase with negative connotations: stick up, as in armed robbery.

And, while I was typing this, another occurred to me: up yours.

Also, mentioned above, shut up.

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'

another phrase? Other than flatliner?

Certainly that's what I mean when I use it as a patronizing and contemptuous term. It matches so nicely with Threadnodist.

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.

This page intentionally omitted

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.

Lady High Pooh-Bah saith: inadvertantly gotten peoples' hopes up

Is this another 'word' up? And what does it mean to get your hopes up? And are you sure you aren't doing this advertantly?

Yours in subjugate humility

the sunshine (bowing and backing out of the room) warrior

, 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)

The opposite of "uptight" is "hang loose" which refers to the sometimes less frequent state of male anatomy.

(Discreet ladylike cough)

I heard the term in connection with surfing meaning a relaxed board-riding style on the waves.
You have given me pause.
wow

I heard the term in connection with surfing meaning a relaxed board-riding style on the waves. You have given me pause.

Herds of heards, I guess. Maybe let's wait for someone with an OED to hand. back at you!

IP

Re: "hang loose"

I think it just shows that surfboarders have more class than, say, skateboarders.

let's wait for someone with an OED to hand

Looking up hanging in Shorter OED-CD had me in fits of very unladylike laughter as I read applying your meaning
No entry in SOED for "hang loose."
wow

<<Looking up hanging in Shorter OED-CD had me in fits of very unladylike laughter as I read applying your meaning>>

You're being horribly unfair; do Tell!

You're being horribly unfair; do Tell!

Just look up "hang" both noun and verb definitions in any dictionary and overlay thoughts of the male "dangly bits" ...

Your High Priestess is off to sweep out and clean up the temple of the Great and Mighty Anu, that is to say her mind.
wow

"To stand united; stick together: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”

I remember seeing a bumper sticker showing a pair of mallards flying in flagrante delicto, with caption
"FLY UNITED"

Bridge,

laughed aloud, thanks for the defs!

IP

man hanging
Offhand, I can't think of a use for 'hang' in this context, except in the slangy greeting from one man to another, "How are they hanging?". However, in the past or participial form, you have 'Hung like a bull/horse' or similar expressions.

Incidentally, ladies, please inform us men: Would you consider the state of being hung like a horse to be the male equivalent of a woman having bodacious tatas?

bodacious tatas?

Oy.

Re: "Bodacious" I remember a comic strip featuring a mountain character called Snuffy Smith, who I think either invented the word, or at least first widely circulated it about fifty years ago. It was a superlative, but not necessarily complimentary.Somehow I would not regard it as an endearing term to apply to physique of an attractive woman.

Bodacious tatas?!?!

All right! That's IT! All of you boys, off my thread at once!

[trying to maintain severe demeanor while doubled up screaming with laughter emoticon]

Bobyoungbalt dangled this in front of us: Incidentally, ladies, please inform us men: Would you consider the state of being hung like a horse to be the male equivalent of a woman having bodacious tatas?

So Bob, let me get this straight... you're asking us if size matters?

Where's the gutter police when she's clearly needed!

911! 911!

"Bobyoungbalt dangled this in front of us"
What is "this"?
Who dangled what?

There used to be a maxim that the angle of dangle was proportional to the heat of the m... and the m... of the a..

Size matters only to another horse.

Dr. Bob* contributes (sic): There used to be a maxim that the angle of dangle was proportional to the heat of the m... and the m... of the a..

Happens I've got a recording (LP no less) of the Mass of the Ass (that's Missa Asini for you Latin scholars out there). Just thought I'd mention it.

*Oh, oops. That's Dr. Bill, in't it. I bin callin you Dr. Bob fer some time now, ain' I Dr. Bill. Sarry bout that.

Now, once and for all :
It's not the size of the er, um, "tool" it's how well you use it.

Why do I think of the old saying : "A poor carpenter will always blame his tools."

This is really not a proper line of thought for a High Priestess!
(I'm right there with you, Rapunzel! )
wow

bodacious tatas
You're correct, Bill, about Snuffy Smif. 'Bodacious' was coupled with 'tatas' by the 2nd male lead character in the movie, An Officer and a Gentlemen since which time it has entered the vocabulary (of some persons, at least).

Dear Bob: Some surprising things come up when you type "Bodacious tatas" in Yahoo search box.

I saw that movie so long ago all I remember is opening with father having taken son to a whorehouse. Somehow the idea did not appeal to me.

Well, there is the thought that the best things come in small packages--

A kind lover remarked that a perfect breast should fill a champange glass (the old fashioned american "saucer" kind, not the continental flute) not a punch bowl. and while he didn't know the word callipygian--his kind remarks about larger parts of my anatomy (significantly larger!) still make me feel good about myself!

And the definition of surplus is that part of the mammary gland that the mouth cannot take in.

A kind lover remarked that a perfect breast should fill a champagne glass(the old fashioned american "saucer" kind, not the continental flute) not a punch bowl.


Your mention of the "wrong" champagne glasses (and even this teetotaller knows that champagne should be drunk from flutes), reminded me of Marie Antoinette.
http://www.lineone.net/express/99/12/27/features/fcolasher-d.html

http://wine.wsj.com/SB958149561337335463-SB961089152541977734.html

surplus is that part of the mammary gland that the mouth cannot take in.

....unless you respond to a challenge.