Lovers of the English language might enjoy
this......How do non-natives ever learn all
the nuances of English???
There is a two-letter word that perhaps
has more meanings than any other two-letter
word, and that word is "UP."
It's easy to understand UP , meaning toward
the sky or at the t op 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 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 doesn't 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. Send this on to everyone you
look up in your address book.
