what's up
- 1A casual greeting, used much like hi or nice to meet you, and usually not expecting a real answer.
What's up, everybody? Thanks for coming out tonight.
Hey, what's up? I'm Sam, Jen's roommate.
Note
As a greeting it is a question nobody has to answer: a nod, a hey or a what's up back is enough. Bugs Bunny's catchphrase, Eh, what's up, doc?, gave it a famous push from as early as 1940, and it had been a common greeting in the neighborhood of his creator, Tex Avery, in Taylor, Texas.
- 2Used to ask what is happening or what someone is doing.
What's up tonight? Does anybody want to see a movie?
I'm just calling to find out what's up with the new job.
Note
Americans chiefly use it to ask for news, with up meaning "happening", and the expected reply is brief: not much, just working. What's new and what's happening do the same job. Followed by with and a plan or a person, it asks for an update rather than a complaint, as in what's up with the new job?
- 3Used to ask what the matter is or what is wrong.
What's up with the printer? It keeps jamming on every page.
You've hardly said a word all evening. What's up?
Note
Here up means "of concern", and this use is older than the greeting: Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle both have characters ask what's up when something is plainly wrong. With names the thing that is wrong, as in what's up with the printer? Tone does much of the work, since the same two words can also be a casual hello.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of what's up apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Popularized as early as 1940 by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny in his catchphrase “Eh... What's up, doc?” It was originally a common greeting in the neighborhood of Taylor, Texas, where Bugs Bunny's creator, Tex Avery, lived.