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 why people ask you what's UP. 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? Why is it UP to the secretary to write UP

a report? Why do we need to cheer UP when we're feeling down. We call

UP our friends, and hang UP when finish talking. We use it to turn UP

the volume to make it louder, live UP to expectation, straighten UP when

we're messing UP? pack UP when moving, brighten UP a room, polish UP

the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen, gather UP

things. We lock UP the house, fill UP for gas, 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, get mad when they're fed UP, work UP an

appetite, take and think UP excuses.



And this up is confusing:

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. A drain

must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. When you have nasal

congestion you're clogged 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 a 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. It's all UP to you.



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!



Don't screw up. Send this to everyone you look up in your address book.



Now cheer UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)