Tuesday, July 6, 2010

CHEER UP

I received this today, and thought it clever enough to post.

UP -- what a useful little two lettered word..bet you never gave this a second thought, or realized that this little word had so many different meanings. Think about it.

This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word. It is listed in the dictionary as an adverb, preposition, adjective, noun or verb.

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, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times this little word has 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 UP 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, soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now ....my time is UP ! Just so you know, this article is on the UP and UP.

Cartoon:


3 comments:

  1. I have to drink up my tea and eat up my breakfast now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It up-peers to be a great topic of conversation among friends!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I made some smoked haddock chowder and wrote to a friend: "Hope my yarn doesn't end up smelling liked smoked fish!"

    Had to send the "up" part to you.

    ReplyDelete