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Posted on 02/24/2018 9:45:32 AM PST by V K Lee
English is weird, hard to learn, and often hard to translate.
An article on this showed UP in my email inbox this week, and I thought I’d share it with you. While I didn't dream it UP, I found out, after looking it UP on the web, that the article's content might originally come from here. I enjoyed reading UP on it, and I made UP the parallel between the uses of the word and localization. (It gets worse from here).
UP can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition. This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word. If you were to check, 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 consider these things.
We wake UP
At a meeting, topics come UP
People speak UP It is UP to the secretary to write UP a report
We call UP our friends
We take UP with the wrong crowd
You can brighten UP a room
We polish UP the silverware
I warm UP the leftovers and then I clean UP the kitchen
We lock UP the house
People fix UP the old car
My sister always stirs UP trouble
We line UP for tickets
She works UP an appetite
You think UP excuses
(Excerpt) Read more at info.moravia.com ...
My wife is from the Philippines and while her english is superior to mine, she cannot consistently use he or she properly. She (my wife being a her) says pronouns are not a common concept in the Philippines.
She usually does get “up” but often she doesn’t want to get “off” my lap so then she sort of rolls “over” my knees and slides “down” to the floor. Her legs don’t really extend “into” an “up” motion untill she is “down” on the floor.
English prepositions can be a lot of fun ... for native speakers.
What is an ‘around to it’?
As in:
“when I get ‘around to it’.”
Another word like it is *stuff*.
Try to explain *stuff* to someone who’s first language is not English.
LOL - only one person would know the answer:
A taxidermist.
And why a ‘taxidermist’? Tax is normally something paid, unwillingly to TPTB. It’s no wonder we can’t speak to one another.
That King must have been a Progressive.
Slow UP (means the same as Slow DOWN) go figure!
The “F” word is just as universal.
George Carlin did a routine on it.
“I’ve upped my grammar. Up yours.”
my Chinese ladyfriend was frustrated by things like;
“Are you referring to two tutus too?”
I’ve been studying Hebrew for 20 years (self taught) and am probably just entering the middle intermediate stage (if that). If Hebrew is difficult (and their verbs are nuts), I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to learn and become proficient in English.
That’s not the worst thing up with which we have to put.
ML/NJ
Dats dah Youpee, an its where ya git dah Yoopers from. Dem ones what liff below dah britch, dems dah trolls.
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“Up the Republic!!. “Up Yours!
Still strange how it worked out.
I’m down with it.
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