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The amazing word “up”

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is “UP.”

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 politicians UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends.
We use it to brighten UP a room.
Polish UP the silver.
We warm UP the leftovers.
Clean UP the kitchen.
We lock UP the house
Some guys fix UP their old cars.

At other times the little word has real special meaning.

People stir UP trouble.
Line UP for tickets
Work UP an appetite
Think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And then it gets even more confusing:

A drain must be opened UP because it is clogged UP.
We open UP a shop in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be really knowledgeable about the proper use of UP, look UP the word in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th 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 the clouds are building UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn’t rain for a while, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP.

Time to shut UP!

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