A question to Brits

<<Actually, the phrase itself is only used in the passive voice, as one never says, "They fed me up" (for example). >>


They fed up their livestock in preparation for the county fair.

They fed me up into the mouth of a monster.

And I disagree with Foggy Day's Russian lady teacher, by the way : the idea of being "fed up" in our English phrase does implicitly involve a person's accumulated sense of unhappiness with the perceived nuisance. The "upness" marks the level which has finally been reached where there is a breaking point or a noisome ne plus ultra ; or to mend the metaphor, where the malign and intolerable satiety has now set in.

But Contradictor, you are much too hasty, for in using this active voice you've changed the meaning and therefore the subject. We were discussing the idiom and meaning of being "fed up" - meaning reaching the limit of emotional tolerance.

Your active verb to "feed up" livestock (or your monster) has none of that sense to it, I'm afraid.

Thanks for playing !

@ Foggy Day

I'm British and fed up can mean, bored, annoyed, unhappy. I never said "a bit" means "fed up". A bit means "a little".

Just a bit confused, I am getting a bit fed up with all the confusion here

Billy,

Nobody said "a bit" means "fed up". Where did you get it?

I only wondered how a person who *reached "the limits of tolerance or patience* be just *a bit down/blue* instead of hitting the roof or being depressed.

P.S. I'm not @Foggy day, just Foggy day.

@ foggy day

I really can't be arsed any more. Why don't you just get on with it yourself since you seem to think you know what it means already.

Regarding the @ before your name - it mean "at"

HA! I KNEW IT WAS ROBIN!!
NOW FUCK OFF!!

<P.S. I'm not @Foggy day, just Foggy day. >

When Billy puts "@Foggy Day", he means he is replying to you, not that you are "@Foggy Day", which was my original lazy moniker. Sorry about the confusion

<Yes, but "fed up" always connotes a passive sort of anger or dissatisfaction, doesn't it ? >

Quintus has the essential word here: "passive". A "fed up" person isn't going to stack barrels of gunpowder in the Westminster cellars. He's going to pout and grumble a bit.

You could say that this continues the original metaphor. Lethargy tends to follow surfeit.

Billy
< I really can't be arsed any more>
Nobody makes you do it. Just ignore the thread and rid us of your rudeness and confusion.

Earlier today I had the right hump. I was starving and fed up at the same time. Then me bacon butty arrived (with some HP sauce) and I felt well good. Tata.

This is a metaphor.

fed up - having had enough.

It can mean just bored with something (in the mildest sense) through to frustration.

Extending the metaphor,

fed up to the back teeth - so fed up that one cannot possibly take any more, i.e. you've reached your absolute limit.

doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as being "a little" fed up.

The "a bit" segment adds two syllables that, when said through gritted teeth, holds more potency than the plain "fed up" statement.

So, a person who has reached the limits of tolerance or patience can indeed be hitting the roof or depressed.

It's similar to how De Niro emphasises each of the words in the phrase "are you talking to me?" to convey something different each time he says it.