The versatility of a word
Hello,
I thought you would enjoy the various twists on the word "up." Bopcha, I thought you would be especially entertained. I got this from an Italian American yahoo group (based in the Northwest actually).
Enjoy! Bopcha, by the way I really like the heartfelt song you wrote, it was very touching.
________________________________________________________
>
> My Daughter is an ESL teacher. She forwarded this on and I thought
> some of you would enjoy. I sure got a chuckle.
> Carol Cima
>
> 'up'
>
> 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!
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
I thought you would enjoy the various twists on the word "up." Bopcha, I thought you would be especially entertained. I got this from an Italian American yahoo group (based in the Northwest actually).
Enjoy! Bopcha, by the way I really like the heartfelt song you wrote, it was very touching.
________________________________________________________
>
> My Daughter is an ESL teacher. She forwarded this on and I thought
> some of you would enjoy. I sure got a chuckle.
> Carol Cima
>
> 'up'
>
> 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!
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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