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Musicgold Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Can't just up and...

Hi,



The following sentence is from the media. I am not sure if the underlined part is correct. Shouldn’t be something like ‘just get up’?



A company cannot just up and securitize anything that it wants, free from oversight.



Thanks,



MG.
  

Top answer

This is a very common lower register expression. Some might consider it a colloquialism (as to be distinguished from a collocation). "I don't know what got into her.

— Avangi

  • This is a very common lower register expression.
  • Some might consider it a colloquialism (as to be distinguished from a collocation).
  • "I don't know what got into her.
  • " It's used to desribe a seemingly impetuous act - one which appears not to have been thought out, or one which seems unjustified, or unwaranted, or unauthorized, or imprudent.
  • )
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13 Answers
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This is a very common lower register expression. Some might consider it a colloquialism (as to be distinguished from a collocation).

"I don't know what got into her. She just up and left!"

It's used to desribe a seemingly impetuous act - one which appears not to have been thought out, or one which seems unjustified, or unwaranted, or unauthorized, or imprudent.
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Avangi,

thanks a lot.
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Hi Avangi,

May I ask this phrase, "up close and personal" whether is some kind of similiar construction like "up and left"? I like to know the meaning too?

Thank you.

TN
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It's a different sort of thing. I'd have to Google it, but I associate it with some TV person-to-person type interview program - somebody who interviews famous people - Charlie Rose, Larry King, somebody like that. I don't think of it as an idiom which people use in everyday speech. Maybe I'm wrong.
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up and or just up and, placed before a verb, is an idiom that means suddenly, without preparation, unexpectedly, for no apparent reason, "out of the blue".

They just up and left.
She up and slapped him.
He just up and started swearing at everybody.

CJ
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up close and personal means almost literally what it says.

up close - in very close contact with someone or something, face to face with someone or something, intimate

personal - involving the private affairs of a person

CJ
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Musicgold A company cannot just up and securitize anything that it wants, free from oversight.
It would be misleading not to include "and" as part of the idiom. I meant to mention that, but it slipped past.
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Avangi
I've never heard "up close and personal" used as an idiom.


I've heard it. It frequently has sexual connotations. He wants to get to know her...up close and personal.
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cwtchhas sexual connotations
Not as often as you might think. If you Google the expression, you'll find tons of other usages:

Living cells: up close and personal
College admissions: up close and personal
The 2010 Ford Mustang: up close and personal
The planet Mercury: up close and personal
Baghdad: up close and personal

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