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"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

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