Contributed by Vipin Buckshey, from Delhi

Lovers of the English language might enjoy this. It is yet another example of why people learning English have trouble with the language and why we always maintain that English is a ‘phunny' language with many words and their use constantly rebelling.

Learning the nuances of English makes it a difficult language. (But then, that's probably true of some other languages). There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meaning than any other two-letter word, and that word is ‘up.' It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an (adv), (pre), (adj), (n), or (v). If you look up the Oxford American Dictionary ‘UP' occupies about one half of a page. If you don't like it you can tore up the page.

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? And when someone is not nice to us why we still put up with him/her? We look up to our mentor. In sports your team might be two goals up, and you will enjoy it if you are not up in years.

You fill up at the gas station and keep up with the news by reading a newspaper or sit up and watch TV. You wait for your fiancée to pop up the question at the suitable time. If there is a problem you can always kiss and make up. But don't get tied up in details. If the problem becomes serious you will have to pack up and leave.

That beautiful house is up for sale and if you have made up your mind to buy it you go up a step further to make up with your wife.

At times you are up against a formidable rival so speak up for your rights and claims. And always keep your accounts up to date.

At a meeting, why does a topic come up? Why do we put up with incompetent people? And why are the officers up for elections 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 fixes up our beat-up car.

At other times, the little word has a real special meaning. People stir up trouble, line up for tickets, work up an appetite, and think up excuses. We ask one to come up, and someone else to go up.

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 clogged up.  We get stuck up at some place and then some one comes up to help us cope up with the situation.

We open up a store in the morning but we close it up at night. We seem to be pretty mixed up about UP!  

If you are up to it, you might try building up a list o 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 the sun comes out, we say it is clearing up. When it rains, it wets up the earth, and we clean up our yard.

When it doesn't rain for a while, the earth dries up.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it up for now ... my time is up, so time to give up or you will get fed up with this article!

Oh... one more thing: Now I'll shut up.

[Courtesy: Hiro Butani, San Francisco, and contribution from DN Verma]