*change* + preposition

[Damien Hall]

Two responses to my observation of *change up*:

=================

I wonder if the meanings of "change" (change as in money) is prompting
the added  "up" for clarification.  "I'll change some money" wouldn't
work, would it?  It would have to be "exchange".  Prefixes becoming
particles is common.  Could "change out" and "change up" could both be
used  with the same meaning in your example?

=================

Well, I "change money" frequently whenever I travel abroad.  Though I
usually avoid patronizing the shadowy characters who accost tourists in
some countries saying, "Change money?  Change money?"  I never heard a
black marketeer offer to "exchange money" or "change up money."  (But then,
what do they know?)

Peter Mc.

=================

*Change* for money works for me too.  That's the only thing I say, in fact, when
I mean 'change into a different currency':  'exchange' would prompt the
(interior) question 'For what', but 'change some money' *means* 'change it into
a different currency.  I think you're right that the added *up* is for
clarification, though.

To answer the second question, I don't think that *change out* could be used for
money.  *Change up* isn't in my dialect either, but I have never heard the
person I know who says *change up* for money say *change out* for it.
*Exchange money* seems slightly more plausible to me but, again, it's not in my
dialect.

Damien Hall
University of Pennsylvania