Do you say search it up or look it up?
Posted by Perfect_Technology73@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 28 comments
I would only ever say I am going to look something up. But I hear "search it up" more and more. Is this regional or by age or something else?
clueing_4looks@reddit
I’m 44 and we were saying this 15 years ago in Appalachia. I found this thread trying to figure out if it was a colloquialism.
Kapika96@reddit
Look it up.
″Search it up″ just sounds wrong. Should be ″search it″ or ″search for it″. Although even then not as natural as look it up.
Bertybassett99@reddit
Who the fuck says search it up?
Most people say just Google.it.
PowerApp101@reddit
Young uns. They don't say google it.
Bertybassett99@reddit
Really?
PowerApp101@reddit
Yeah. Google isn't a big thing to them like it was for earlier generations. They say "search it up". I'm talking about teenagers.
Bertybassett99@reddit
Yeah, that makes sense. Their portals are tik tok, Snapchat, YT shorts.
Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)
I hear people in their 20s and under say it
Bertybassett99@reddit
Feeling old...
Mina_U290@reddit
Never heard search it up and I've been online since 1999.
But I can't be everywhere. 😁
intangible-tangerine@reddit
Look it up / search for
Look it up when it's specific information and you know where to find it in advance e.g using a dictionary to find a word
Search for when it's more broad or nebulous e.g search online for holiday ideas
Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)
This is "search something up" which is a little different.
intangible-tangerine@reddit
Different as in British people don't use it?
Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)
Yes, me too! But apparently people say it these days
cougieuk@reddit
This is the first time I've heard "Search it up".
It's not a thing round these parts.
Shitelark@reddit
I would say 'I'll search for it/that.' or look it up.
Big-Environment-4583@reddit
Looking up generally implies some sort of intelligent consideration, searching is someone seeking a quick summary
RlyVSS@reddit
In what way does "seeking a quick summary" imply less intelligent consideration than "looking something up"?
Big-Environment-4583@reddit
If I want to look up hydrogen I will find out that it fuels stars and is an element that drives the universe
If I search hydrogen it will tell me what it is and where to buy it
RlyVSS@reddit
Forgot to ask: how does one of these methods demonstrate more intelligence than the other?
RlyVSS@reddit
Huh.
Where/in what publication(s) did you look up "hydrogen", and where did you search the same single word?
Here's what I get when web searching the singular word (the full article is quite detailed with plenty references):
Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)
Yea but I am asking about the phrase "search something up" which I never heard until recently
Big-Environment-4583@reddit
If the phrases have become analogous I am not aware
But “searching” and “looking up” are certainly different
davbryn@reddit
I look things up. I'm not a flid I've been looking things up since the museum.
SheRoseFromTheAshes@reddit
I say I’ll google it . All the kids use search it up
yeksnyls@reddit
Bing it
RlyVSS@reddit
Language evolves as the world does.
"look it up" I imagine comes from literally having to look at a book, report, reference paper, or other physical resource, to be able to learn or verify something.
"search it up" I imagine is an evolution of the same phrase, adapted for a generation who only need web search to learn or verify something.
I say the former because I'm old. I reluctantly embrace the latter because I love language and that must include the evolution of it.
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