Intentional Ambiguity: To "Hook up"
What exactly does it mean to "hook up" with another person? Have you ever sat down and contemplated this phrasal verb? It seems to me that "hook up" is purposely ambiguous; in point of fact, one might meditate upon it as one might reflect on a Zen koan.Urbandictionary.com provides some useful definitions that can help us glean some understanding of this enigmatic turn of phrase.
First, we have the obvious, sexual definition. To "hook up" with a person might mean some simple kissing, or it might mean full-on intercourse. Conventional wisdom appears to state that to "hook up" carries with it implicitly no sense of commitment or ongoing relationship.
Spoken: "Dude, this hot chick and I hooked up last night after the party."
Reality: "Acqaintance, this sad woman who has self-esteem about as low as I do engaged in a meaningless exchange of bodily fluids with me last night after the party."
Another definition of hook up is "to receive a good or service as a favor." I use this one quite a bit:
Paul K. is my hookup for symphony tickets.
"You can get discounts at restaurants? Hook me up, bro!"
Finally, we have the hook up verb meaning "an informal agreement for people to get together at a subsequent time." This definition carries with it (at least most of the time) no sexual undertone.
"Look, I'm unable to meet with you right now. Can we hook up later on this afternoon?"
For a laugh, you might want to check out how one my favorite reference sites, Answers.com, defines hook up. To "take in marriage"? Yeah, right!
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Mother Tongue Annoyances » Flack, Flak, and Slack wrote:
[…] Sorry, Carter boys. I suppose that you can sing. I suppose that you look “hott.” However, I wish very sincerely that you both would devote a bit less time to “hooking up” and considerably more time to honing your skills with your mother tongue. […]
Posted on 01-Oct-06 at 1:38 pm | Permalink