S. Worthen | Weblog

Reading through an article on Bath in Homes and Antiques this weekend, a phrase caught my eye. It was along the lines of "Go to the Thermae Bath Spa to gen up on life in Roman Bath." Learning English being a long and slow process, I'd never encountered "to gen up on something" as a phrase before. From context it was obvious, a synonym for the (North?) American "to bone up on something".

I asked C. about it. "You'd never use 'to bone up' in British", he said, quite reasonably. His mother disagreed, suggesting too that they don't mean the same thing. She thought that "to gen up" involves gathering general information on something. "Boning up" involves a more detailed study of something, becoming a bit more of a an expert on a particular topic.

So, in honor of International Post-a-Poll Day (singlehandedly declared by easterbunny), here is a poll on the subject.

[Poll #862112]

And do they have different meanings, for those of you familiar with both phrases?