"set someone up"
Posted by Rian on April 14, 2006
In Reply to: "Set someone up" posted by pamela on April 14, 2006
: : : what's the origin and meaning of the phrase "set someone up".it is used in the negative sense....quite unlike how u say "set up a business" or "set up a factory".anyone please?
: : It's the purpose of setting someone up that makes it negative. If you set someone up in order to knock them down, that's negative ("Set up like a bowling pin" as the Grateful Dead song Truckin' says). If you set up a business and try to keep it going, that's positive.
in US,one comes across this term in context as Brian said"knocking down" say like when u take someone out on a drink but not go thru with a deal or worse don't turn up for the invite,he can say" u set me up"!..right?... or will that convey an accusation of malicious intent like as pamela said "framing"....coz u might just be chickening.... :) rian