The word UP

Right UP, one is overjoyed and relieved that close pal Atty. Ruben "Bimbo" Suico of the "Tawag ng Tanghalan" fame, now comfortably settled with his family in Fort Myers, Florida, has managed to flesh out his sense of humor, despite the recent death of a very dear one.

Regardless of whether the following interesting write-UP has been originally cooked UP by him, or picked UP from another's work, one gives due source attribution with an open quote and close quote in entirety.

"This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary 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 the 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, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the car.

At other times this 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 UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost one-fourth 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 soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now… my time is UP!

 One more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? UP!"

Further enlivening the versatility of the usual UP prepositional idiom, one ventures some UP expressions, like, the highway robbers' "stick UP", or the government grafters' price "jack UP", the beauty parlor's "make-UP", or school bullies to "gang UP", or the alibi "put UP", the fashionable "get UP". Also common idioms for slowpokes to "step UP', or "show UP", "fire UP", "stir UP", and a host of others for emphasis, like, bring UP/spruce UP/beat UP/heat UP/check UP/wise UP/follow UP/shake UP/screw UP/clam UP/pack UP, etc.

Indeed, English as the "lingua franca" is such a beautiful, rich, and growing language, ever evolving with time and usage that may start as common slang outside standard use, then develops into colloquialism and/or provincialism, but may later attain as admissible idioms, and, finally comes to perfection as standard communication usage or expressions.

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