Curious Quirks in Everyday Language

Alarms & Planes

• An alarm goes off when it starts making noise, and you turn it off to stop the sound. But at night, you turn the alarm on to ensure it’ll wake you in the morning.
• A plane takes off when it’s fast enough to lift into the air. Oddly, it doesn’t “take on” when it lands.

Getting On or In?

• You “get in a cab” or “take an Uber,” but you “get on a train,” “board a plane,” and “board a boat.” Jerry Seinfeld famously joked about these quirky prepositions.
• You can “throw up” or “wake up,” yet “throw down” and “wake down” hardly make sense.

The Calendar Shuffle

• December (literally “the tenth month” from the prefix dec-) used to be the 10th month in an older Roman calendar.
• Likewise, September (sept-/hept- = 7), October (oct- = 8), November (nov- = 9), and December (dec- = 10) originally matched those numbers.
• Over time, Julius Caesar introduced July (named after himself) and Augustus Caesar added August. This pushed the other months further down, so what used to be the 9th month (September) is now actually the 9th in name but the 9th. . . wait, that’s confusing—but hey, blame the ancient emperors for rearranging everything!

The Magic of "Up"

Let’s shine a spotlight on just one word: UP. It’s everywhere—check out these examples:

• We must speak UP to bring UP a topic. Then it’s UP to someone else to write UP a report (unless they can think UP an excuse).
• We call UP our friends, ask them to come UP for dinner, brighten UP the room, and polish UP the silver—hoping they’ve worked UP an appetite.
• We might mess UP the kitchen cooking UP a meal and use towels to soak UP spills. Then we clean UP the mess, and the next day we warm UP the leftovers.
• Sometimes, people lock UP their house, line UP to buy parts, then fix UP an old car.
• Politicians often stir UP trouble, especially when they’re UP for election.
• Being dressed is one thing, but being dressed UP is something special!
• A drain can be stopped UP, so we have to open UP the drain. If the can of Drano is empty, it’s all used UP.
• We open UP a store in the morning, and close UP at night.
• If it looks like rain, it’s clouding UP. When the sun comes out, it’s clearing UP. If it rains on metal, it might rust UP. When there’s no rain, things dry UP, and in the winter, they can freeze UP!
• Curious, right? If you look UP “up” in the dictionary, it may take UP a quarter of the page and add UP to about thirty definitions.
• If you’re UP to it, try building UP your own list of ways we use “up.” It’ll take UP a lot of time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with more than a hundred!

I could go on, but my time is UP. I’m going to wrap it UP by shutting UP! Whether you forward this note or delete it, well—that’s UP to you.