up
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 UPabout 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!