Winding 1

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Why do we sometimes use "winding up" and "winding down" to mean the same thing?

An example I heard today - used to denote the ending of a project - "we're winding up here" and "the project is winding down".

Dan

 

[SkipVought]

Just a thought...

A Hospital is where RUN DOWN people WIND UP!

Skip,
[sub]
[red]Be advised:[/red]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [/sub]

 

[ESquared]

To me, the idea of a person winding up conveys becoming agitated or excited, like, "the children were too wound up to go to sleep quickly."

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There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who know binary, and those who don't.

 

[sleipnir214]

In all the usages I've heard of winding up and winding down, they did not have interchangeable meanings. I don't hear winding up much, except when refering to clockworks and baseball -- I more commonly hear wound up.

To continue ESquared's example, "The children are too wound up to sleep. Let them wind down for a bit before we try again to put them to bed."




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[SkipVought]

or

"The children are too wound up to sleep. Let them wind down for a bit before we try again to put them to bed or we'll wind up in a strait jacket."


Skip,
[sub]
[red]Be advised:[/red]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [/sub]

 

[Zathras]

How about "slowing up" v. "slowing down"?

 

[sleipnir214]

I rarely hear slow up. But in the few cases I have, the context seemed to imply a slightly different meaning from slow down.

slow down always seems to me to mean contextually, "lessen the speed of your vehicle". slow up seems to mean, "perform the actions necessary to make your vehicle go slower" [apply the brake, reduce steam, move the throttle to a lower setting, etc].

An example would be a train. A railroad supervisor would shout from the ground to the locomotive engineer, "Slow down!", wanting the engineer to reduce the speed of the train. The engineer would reduce the throttle setting on the engine and turn to her brakeman and tell him, "Slow up", meaning for him to apply more pressure to the braking system.

Of course, I could be overanalyzing.



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TANSTAAFL!!

 

[AnotherHiggins]

The usage, "We're winding up the project now." Is not uncommon. Another way of saying this would be, "The project is winding down."

BRPS, I can't answer why these two phrases that *sound* like opposites are used to mean the same thing, but I don't think there can be any argument that they can be used to convey similar meaning.

From Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

One entry found for wind up.

Main Entry: wind up
Function: verb
transitive senses
1 : to bring to a conclusion : END
2 a : to put in order for the purpose of bringing to an end <winds up the meeting> b British : to effectuate the winding up of
intransitive senses
1 a : to come to a conclusion b : to arrive in a place, situation, or condition at the end or as a result of a course of action <wound up as millionaires>
2 : to make a pitching windup

______________________________
One entry found for wind down.

Main Entry: wind down
Function: verb
intransitive senses
1 : to draw gradually toward an end
2 : RELAX, UNWIND
transitive senses : to cause a gradual lessening of usually with the intention of bringing to an end

Notice the 1st entry for each word!!!

Perhaps if someone has time to kill we can find out the etymology behind each phrase?

 

[SkipVought]

Perhaps it can be quantified, by determining the windage to compare how much wind there is in UP vs. DOWN.

What do you think?

Skip,
[sub]
[red]Be advised:[/red]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [/sub]

 

[ESquared]

You know, I hate to do this, but I'd just like to give people a gentle reminder that general language discussion really belongs in the "Making an Impression" forum. While I am enjoying this thread, it really isn't wordplay. Please keep this in mind when you start new threads in the future!

Thanks!

Now... if the initial message in the thread said... how many "contradictory synonyms" can you come up with, well, that would be a different story.

The house burned up. The house burned down.

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There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who know binary, and those who don't.

 

[BakeMan]

Not to prolong the conversation, but I think that the point of the two metaphors has been missed. These are metaphors that use the same verb in the beginning and the fact that they have opposites at the end is irrelevant and misleading.

"Winding down" is a metaphor for clockworks that have been wound up, released and are now unwinding (i.e. coming to an end)

"Winding up" is a metaphor for putting or replacing line or yarn on a spool or reel. If you are winding up fishing line on a reel, the remaining line not on the reel is coming to an end.

Therefore saying the project in winding up means the same as saying it is winding down.

Maybe everyone already got this and I'm the on missing something. Just thought I'd spell it out for my own sanity.

BAKEMAN