Strange English - "beatdown" vs "beat up"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I thought it would be interesting to post some of the words and phrases in English that seem odd even to me, a native English speaker.

Here’s one:

Why do we say “I beat up my brother Johnny.” But my poor brother Johnny when describing this will say “I got a beatdown from my brother T. J.”

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2

So, the phrasal verb consists of the preposition ‘up’ while the noun created with the opposite preposition ‘down’?

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In my small island I would say - I was beaten up and I was beaten down in price = got a lower price for what I wanted to sell something for.

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Hi Alan, do you see a difference between ‘in my small island’ and ‘on my small island’? I take it ‘on my small island’ would imply you are talking about a physically small island like the one Robinson Crusoe lived on for example while ‘in my small island’ refers to a country like the UK?

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5

Hi Torsten,

Spot on as always!

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6

Luschen, can’t beat up be used as a noun ‘beatup’ like breakup, setup, popup and so on when the tendency is to avoid hyphenating?

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7

Here in the US, I have never heard of “beatup” being used as a noun, only beatdown.

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8

I think ‘beat-up’ or ‘beat up’ is used as an adjective only.

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