UP

I recieved this email from a close friend of mine . I hope you enjoy it as I did .

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 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

Don't screw up. Now I'll shut up B) :laugh: :laugh: B)

I just could not sleep in this morning. My CIAK roast was calling me, I got " UP " and out of bed . Went into the kitchen to light " UP " the gas burner under the kettle . Bring the water to a boil . As I ground " UP " CIAK roast the aroma rose " UP " was divine . Sticking my nose close to the fresh ground beans. I deeply sniff CIAK coffee . Aha , a chocolate-like aroma reminiscent of the aroma and flavour of cocoa . dark chocolate perhaps sweet milk chocolate , nutty rose " UP " to tickle the olfactory . I detect a caramel aroma the odour of caramelized sugar. I wake " UP " and smell my CIAK coffee. Pouring the hot water , steam creating a cloud of moisture as it rises " UP " dripping into the filter , Listening to it slowly seep through the CIAK roast . I anxiously wait for the cup to fill " UP " . Fresh unpasteurized cream being bathed in hot CIAK roast sweetness . I raise " UP " the cup to my lips , loudly slurping the coffee so it spreads to the back of the tongue. Measuring the mouth feel , sweetness . Good Morning everyone ........... Oh yeah , Self Actualization , you have to be calm inside yourself to enjoy life all around you .

"it wets UP the earth" Not going for that. Never ever heard it used. I have heard 'tear up' and 'mess up' which lead to casual extensions (see below) What I have heard is the expression 'wet down' something. I know I'm just being a spoilsport but all the uses of 'up' mentioned seem perfectly consistent to me as extensions of the directional meaning implicit in the root. Either physical direction or energy level direction. As in a higher pitch...up. Even the jaw one: you don't shut down your forehead, you shut up your lower jaw. (but see below again)

The one that seems to me to have had the most usage distortion is the shop/store meaning. With a shop, store, business venture, etc. we all get start up, open up and the opposite is familiar too: close down, shut down. The close up could easily apply to cupboard doors or any book that has to swing upward before it shuts. To close up a store is no doubt just a mutation of usage that takes an original meaning just beyond its center of gravity.

Once the meaning of raising up a closure is bonded to the getting at the contents, it gets implied with any opening of any closure, but usually it is never very far from the original image imo. Try explaining to someone "What's the bleeping word for it?"

It was Benjamin Franklin who dreamed up - up. Every Philadelphian knows whats UP. University of Pennsylvania.