"If" and "Up"

[Studlover (imported)]

They say that the longest two-letter word in the dictionary is "if."

But 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.

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.

And yes, when we make a serious mistake, we screw up. (Heaven forbid we

should screw down, huh?)

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it up, for now my time is up;

I have used up more words that I should have.

So............. it is time to shut up.

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[Dave (imported)]

IF all this is true, should we get DOWN with it?