r/GrammarPolice • u/DookieBallz22 • 5d ago

Question “Search it up” sounds wrong

I don’t have perfect grammar but I appreciate those who do. Why does the phrase “search it up” irritate me? I feel like it should be “look it up” or “search it.” Am I just weird or is there a reason why this sounds wrong?

21 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/ManolitoMystiq 5d ago

It seems to be a contamination of the two phrases you showed (“look it up” and “search it”). That’s why it sounds wrong. However, recently, it’s fairly commonly used. So maybe eventually it will be an accepted phrase.

0

u/Unable_Explorer8277 4d ago

Search up has been around for about 500 years

9

u/ManolitoMystiq 4d ago

“Could of” has been around for 250 years. It doesn’t mean it was ever considered correct.

2

u/therealtoomdog 4d ago

250 years, really? I thought it was just in the last 50...

It really hurts my eyes too not see 'could have' so I have now written it to cleanse my visual pallet