Jump to content
Chinese-Forums
  • Sign Up

English lesson: To up and...


roddy

Recommended Posts

To up and do something - to do something unexpectedly or abruptly.

 

"Where's John?" - "No idea, he upped and left half an hour ago. Didn't say a word."

"Have you heard? Mum's upped and sold the house!"

"You can't just up and cancel the meeting like that..."

 

Is this only British English?

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know this construction (don't know what flavour English it is though, my English is even messier in that respect than my Chinese) but I never knew the 'up' is also declined. I would have said 'He up and left half an hour ago.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It definitely would be "upped and left" though, not "up and left", unless maybe spoken by those with English as a second language or whatever (here in Singapore everyone leaves "-ed" off the end of words all the time.  "Sorry, we're close" etc.)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Counting google results, it's overwhelmingly 'up and left' and 'up and died' over 'upped and left/died'. But it is of course possible that most people are doing it wrong, or that there is a regional difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Beelzebro said:

Definitely heard it here in the UK.

 

OK, there's a lot of "leakage" from US English into British English.  (When did Brits start saying "any time soon" and "one of the only"?)

Also, despite being English I lived in Scotland for the 10 years before leaving the UK in 2010 (lots of different usage), and haven't been back since. 

 

What am I trying to say?  Probably:  I may be out of touch!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting...

 

My first instinct was to say that “upped and left” was categorically wrong, in favour of “up and left.”

 

But then I started imagining a situation where I’m telling a story:

 

”So he’s sitting in the restaurant by himself, right? And then you wouldn’t believe it, the guy just ups and leaves without paying!”

 

I prefer “up and leaves” and “up and left,” but both “upped” and “ups” do not really offend my sensibilities. Cambridge says it’s “American” and gives an example using “up and left,” which I would casually infer means it started in American English and made it’s way to British English, before later losing the inflection on the word up where Brits preserved it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

20 hours ago, 陳德聰 said:

made it’s way to British English, before later losing the inflection on the word up where Brits preserved it.

 

Sounds very plausible.  Brits may do all kinds of careless and reckless things (*ahem* not using the B-word) but most would fight to the death to preserve inflection of the Queen's English.

 

And pick you up on "it's". ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Click here to reply. Select text to quote.

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...