Hold up

Hold up

Today’s English expression is “hold up.” In Lesson 168, you learned that to “hold up” a process is to delay a process . But in this context, “hold up” refers to durability. Durability is the ability of something to stay strong for a long time. “Hold up” in this case means, to stay strong or stay in good condition. It’s when something is resilient.

Samsung says that its new Galaxy Flip phone has been tested for 200,000 folds. So, you can open and close that thing 200,000 times and Samsung says that your screen will be fine. They want to convince you that the screen will hold up for a long time. They want to convince you that the screen will remain strong, remain useful for a long time despite potential wear and tear.

I have a clock radio on my bedside table, believe it or not. Many of you have probably never owned a clock radio. I bought this one in 2003; that was seventeen years ago. I don’t really use it anymore. The radio part is obsolete; I have other speakers. And I’m trying to get better sleep, so I don’t look at the clock in the middle of the night. But that thing has held up for seventeen years. It has stayed strong. And I’m a hoarder, so I just can’t get rid of it!

If you want to say that something has stayed strong for a long time, you say that it has “held up well.” I just got my refrigerator repaired. My refrigerator just celebrated its 20th birthday, and I must say, it has held up well. It has stayed strong for a nice, long time. But one day a few weeks ago, it just stopped cooling. The freezer became my new refrigerator. I had someone come out and clean it, replace a few parts, and now my fridge is working like new. The technician said that my fridge is in good condition otherwise and he expects it to hold up well for many more years with these new parts.

We can use “hold up” to talk about body parts, too. The tennis legend Roger Federer did not play in the US Open this year, the final Grand Slam tennis tournament on the calendar. He was afraid his knee wouldn’t hold up. He has had several surgeries on his knee. If you watched Wimbledon, you saw that he wasn’t his usual self out on the grass courts. Before Wimbledon, he wondered whether his knee would hold up, meaning would he be able to play at his best with the injured knee. He played well, but not to his usual standard. And now ahead of the US Open, he didn’t think his knee would hold up, so he did not enter the tournament.

Quote of the Week

Here’s a quote from Roger Federer, the tennis player. He’s known for conducting press conferences after tournaments in three or four languages, usually English, German, and French. He said, “I am a different character in different languages.”

I like that. It’s somewhat true for me; I wonder if it’s true for you, too. Roger Federer says he is a different character in different languages.

See you next time!

Well, that is all for today’s Plain English, lesson number 400. A nice round number. You know the very first Plain English was about the release of the iPhone X, back in September 2017. You can still find that one at PlainEnglish.com/1 . Just don’t judge me too harshly! It was my first attempt.

We’ve come a long way, and so have you. I got a note from a listener the other day saying he’s listened to every single lesson. And he’s not the only one. I know a lot of you have, too.

If you’re looking to take the next step in English, then I’d love to have you as a member of Plain English Plus+, where you can unlock the best tools of Plain English. You can read all about that at PlainEnglish.com/Plus.