If It Was Up To Me…
Johnny-on-the-Spot
I stumbled upon an interesting article recently on the “Top 100 Words”.
Did you know that 76% of all vocabulary in non-fiction writing come from these 100?
The number goes up to 79.6% in fiction while 87.8% of all vocabulary in oral speech uses these 100 words.
I’m not going to list all 100 but the top ten, in reverse order, are;
If…That…You…Is…In…To…A…And…Of,
#1 is…The.
When friend of mind posed the question to me for the most-used word, I guessed “to”.
But he suggested it might be the word, UP.
Why?
Well, it can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective or preposition.
Noun.
A period of good fortune.
“It can’t always be an up economy.”
Verb.
Do something abruptly or bold.
“She up and left him.”
Cause (a level or amount) to be increased.
“Business will be up by 70% next year.”
Adverb.
Toward a higher place or position.
“He jumped up.”
At, or to a higher level on intensity, volume or activity.
“She turned up the volume.”
Adjective.
Direction or moving toward a higher place or position.
“The up escalator.”
At an ending.
“His contract was up in 3 weeks.”
Preposition.
From a lower to higher point on (something); upward, along.
“She climbed up a flight of stairs.”
And even with all that, my friend went on a tear.
Why do we wake UP every morning?
Why do topics always come UP?
If it was UP to me…
If you’re ticked off at someone, do you ever say, “UP yours?”
Do special dates sneak UP on you, too?
Elected officials are UP for election is fall.
How come it’s UP to the secretary to write UP the report?
Do we not call UP our friends?Do you know someone who walks into a room and they brighten it UP?
Did you ever polish UP the silver?
Pop food in the microwave to warm it UP?
Afterwards, your probably cleaned UP the kitchen.
When you retire for the night, do you lock UP the house?
Got a big shindig to attend? Better dress UP!
When’s the last time you stirred UP trouble?
Perhaps while lined-UP for tickets?
That might cause you to work UP an appetite.
Do you need to think UP an excuse?
We get mixed UP.
We’re UP to our neck in bills.
If something is funny, it might crack you UP.
Plumbing problems?
You’ll need to open UP the drain when it’s stopped UP.
How about your profession?
You go to work in the morning to open UP your business and when you leave that evening, you close UP.
The weather forecasters might be the worst.
It’s either clouding UP or clearing UP and after the rain, we start drying UP but before that, the ground soaked UP the showers.
It’s all Up in the air, right?
Did you just look UP?
Did that crack you UP??
If out team is UP by 20 points in the 4th quarter, is that a good thing?
Be sure you stay focused and don’t screw Up.
Perhaps it’s time that I should shut UP. If you agree, speak UP!
Then my mind wandered to music.
“UP, UP and Away”…5th Dimension.
“Build Me UP Buttercup”…The Foundations. (My oldest grandson used to sing it!)
“Get UP Offa That Thing”…The Godfather of Soul, James Brown.
“Never Gonna Give You UP”…Rick Astley.
“Pick UP the Pieces”…AWB. (Average White Band)
“Start Me UP”…The Rolling Stones.
“Pump UP the Jam”…Technotronic.
“Straight UP”…Paula Abdul
“Breaking UP is Hard to Do”…Neil Sedaka
What about some movies?
“Honey, I Blew UP the Kids”
“UP in Smoke” (A Cheech and Chong classic)
Bringing UP Baby
“UP”
“Somebody UP There Likes Me”
So if you are UP to it, you might to build UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of time but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with dozens.
I found another article with some wonderful insight.
The Most Important Word?
“We”
The 2 Most Important Words?
“Thanks you.”
The 3 Most Important Words?
“All is forgiven.”
The 4 Most Important Words?
“What is your opinion?”
The 5 Most Important Words?
“You did a good job.”
The 6 Most Important Words?
“I want to understand you better.”
The Least Important Word?
“I”
Maybe if we applied those last 7 to our lives today, it might be a better place.
That’s a good place to wrap this UP.