etymology - Why "What's up"?


Why's "what's up" used as greeting among young people? It sounds like asking "what is up there"?



A: What's up?


B: The sky.




Answer



Up has many, many uses and referring to something that is above is just one of them.


What’s up is not an innovation by the young of today. As a statement or a question about what might be happening, it isn't particularly new. In a letter written in 1838, the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell wrote I did not mention a word to Lucy but she must have guessed something was ‘up’. Even in its reduced form of wassup, it’s over 100 years old.


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