meanings for up

SUBJECT: UP!

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 the earth and often messes
things UP.

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!