Up In The Air

UP IN THE AIR

Welcome to English in a Minute!

This expression sounds as if we are flying in the sky…

But does this actually mean we are floating above the ground?

So, your cousin is graduation from high school this year.

Has she decided on a college?

She hasn’t decided on anything yet.

All her college plans are up in the air.

She doesn’t even know what she wants to stay!

She had better get on it!

If something is up in the air it is undecided and uncertain.

If an object us floating through the air, it is hard to know where it is going, which is where this expression comes from.

In the past, people just said in the air.

But in the mid - 1900s, we added “up”, making it up in the air.

And that’s English in a Minute!