Meet / meet up

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Anonymous  #437476  Thu, 01 Nov 07 06:34 AM
Hi,

1. "I will meet up with you up at the airport by 6:35PM."
2. "I will meet you at the airport by 6:35PM."
3. "I will meet you up at the airport by 6:35PM"

Are these statements the same?

Thx
  
Mister Micawber  #437504  Thu, 01 Nov 07 09:04 AM

#s 1 and 2 are essentially the same, but #3 is not natural English in my estimation.  #1 suggests to me that the speaker (and perhaps the listener also) has a number of errands, and is arranging a meeting at the end of these tasks.  #2 is a simple arrangement to meet.

  
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Marius Hancu  #437544  Thu, 01 Nov 07 11:55 AM
Perhaps  I am wrong, but I feel that:

3. "I will meet you up at the airport by 6:35PM"

could work if up  isn't seen as grouped with meet (part of a phrasal verb) , but part of the designation of the place, thus grouped in up at the airport, if say the speaker thinks that the airport is up (that is to the North, or on a higher area) from where he is.
  
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Anonymous  #437636  Thu, 01 Nov 07 03:19 PM

Thank you, Mister Micawber and Marius Hancu, for your comments.

So:
1. I will meet up with you means I will meet you after I finish with what I am currently doing.
2. I will meet you means Let us agree to meet.
3. I will meet you up is unnatural unless 'up' is used to point to a direction or a place (e.g., I will meet you up there).

However, I did forget to ask of the fourth usage: I will meet with you. Therefore, I decided to google "meet with" and found the following interesting paragraph to share with you:

"Meet with is a Standard idiom (I hope to meet with them next week), meaning “to hold a meeting, an encounter,” as distinguished from I hope to meet them, which could also mean “to be introduced to them.” Meet up (I hope you and I meet up again some day) is Casual at best, possibly dialectal. Standard users would use only meet at higher levels. Meet up with, however, is at least Conversational, and at least one dictionary considers it Standard; it simply means “encounter,” as in I hope to meet up with her again some day." ([link]

Best

  
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