English oh English!!

Sensei MM, this one's for you.


No wonder the English language is one of the hardest to learn....

Fun for everyone, but especially the lovers of the English language!

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 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
1/4th 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 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 and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP,
so............. Time to shut UP.....!

Source unknown.