Query: Why "up" in "mess up", foul up", etc.?

[sagehen]

>>    I've been asked today why we say "mess up," "foul up," screw up,"
>>etc.  Specifically, why "up" here?  Why not "down"?
>>
>>Gerald Cohen
>>
>"up" in such cases is wearing its completive cap; no directionality
>(or good=up/bad=down metaphorical quality) is directly involved.  I
>seem to recall some discussion of completive "up" in the literature,
>but don't have the references on hand, other than this dissertation:
>
>Lindner, Sue (1981)  A Lexico-Semantic Analysis of English
>Verb-Particle Constructions with OUT and UP.  U. of California, San
>Diego dissertation.
>
>One nice example I recall is "drink up" (completive) vs. "drink down"
>(directional/causative), both amounting to basically the same thing.
>
>As for the verb-particle cases above, I'm not sure why one would
>expect "mess down", "foul down", etc.--are there other examples to
>which these would be analogous?
>
>LH
>
Oddly, I was wondering about the "up" in the "ending up"  I was writing
concerning sthg or other, just a day or two ago....thinking that "down"
might be somewhat more appropriate (as in nailing down the end).
AM

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