know which end is up
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Englisch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From the common marking this end up on parcels to guide proper transport.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]know which end is up (third-person singular simple present knows which end is up, present participle knowing which end is up, simple past knew which end is up, past participle known which end is up)
- (idiomatic) To possess sound judgment oder common sense; to have a clear understanding of a situation.
- Synonym: know which way is up
- He was too stoned to know which end was up.
- 1992, Dorothy Garlock, Glorious Dawn[1], →ISBN:
- He's so in love, he doesn't know which end is up.
- 2010, Gordon Lish, “The Friend”, in Collected Fictions, →ISBN, page 243:
- “[B]elieve me, she is some catch for the right boy—for a boy which knows which end is up.”
- 2011, Richard North Patterson, Silent Witness, →ISBN, page 277:
- “When someone doesn't know which end is up, who knows why they do things.”
- 2011, Catherine McGuinness, Emperors' Clothes[2], →ISBN, →ISBN:
- The whole company is in disarray! Nobody knows which end is up.
Usage notes
[edit]Frequently used in negative constructions to discuss inexperience or failing to understand a situation. Cf. know one's ass from a hole in the ground.
Translations
[edit]understanding in a specific situation
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