Timeline for Do Americans use the verb "shove up"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14, 2017 at 22:49 | comment | added | Mitch | @WS2 A "cock-up" does sound a little off-colored in AmE (ie it sounds very British to Americans) | |
| Dec 14, 2017 at 19:27 | answer | added | salamanda | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 23:48 | comment | added | WS2 | @Mick I don't see what's old fashioned about it. What in your view has replaced it? I still say "shove up" (or possibly "shove over"). Americans don't know about "shove up", they don't ever have a "fry-up" either. And if "shove-up" is obscene, what's a "cock-up"? | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 19:36 | comment | added | Hot Licks | In the US, "shove up" is apt to be interpreted to mean "shove it up your ass", an insulting rejection of an offer or suggestion. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 18:18 | comment | added | Jim | I would never say up when I meant over and vice versa. The verb choice varies by situation. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 18:08 | answer | added | H.R.Rambler | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 17:26 | review | Close votes | |||
| Dec 5, 2017 at 14:23 | |||||
| Dec 4, 2017 at 17:18 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I've heard scooch up/over often enough that it no longer sounds particularly weird - but as best I can recall, only ever in an American accent (and that NGram suggests it only really gained traction a few decades ago). I still tend to interpret it as a "blend" of scoot (slide along) + cooch up (Welsh dialect, cuddle, get closer), but that's probably a spurious "etymology". | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 16:43 | comment | added | Kiloran_speaking | 'Shove up', 'move over', 'budge up' - they're all the same thing, and are used to mean 'I'd like to sit next to you but there isn't room. Move across a little and give me a bit more room'. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 16:42 | comment | added | Mick | @tchrist In BrE, the laconic request "Shove up" means "Please make space so that I can sit down." It's a little old-fashioned these days. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 16:38 | comment | added | herisson | The following entries from Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries seem to indicate that they are synonymous expressions: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shove%20up, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/scooch | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 16:37 | comment | added | herisson | Can you give a short explanation of what "shove up" means to you? I'm an American and I don't use this expression, so without looking it up I can't tell you if I use "scootch over" to mean "shove up". | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 16:37 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | Shove up sounds like something obscene. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 16:34 | history | asked | A playgoer | CC BY-SA 3.0 |