Danny Wier wrote:
>One more question, and I just noticed this. I used the expression "spice
up"
>in two posts. I was thinking how I could've avoided being redundant. I
>recalled various expressions involving verb + "up":>
What a useful and totally meaningless little word. No wonder foreign
students go crazy. Here's a few more: write up; burn up; listen up (which
for some reason really grates on me, maybe just because it fairly recent)...
perk up, cheer up-- which a friend of mind likes to portmanteau into cherk
up. Note too: write down, burn down, and ....
>dizzy up (I have no idea what this one means) (Neither do I)
>tie up -- tie down
>tighten up -- tighten down (practically synonymous)
>dress up -- dress down (2 meanings! dress casually/scold)
Another dreaded one is get/got-- an Indonesian student once asked me what
"we got talking" meant, and out of context I was stumped. Then he showed me
the textbook. More British than American I think; wouldn't most of us say
"we got to talking...."? though I have heard it both ways in the US.
Ah... get up, get down. Yeah!!!