“If I were you I think I’d let
Her be alone: she’s quite upset!”
Where “up” and “set” have equal stress
It’s anger, sadness we express.
Not “furious” or “lachrymose”
But on the way to one of those.
Though “British understatement” means
That now and then this small word screens
More than a tiff or thinning hair;
Some primal rage or deep despair.
Adapt the stress, you realise,
Allows you to express surprise.
“The rank outsider won the Cup” -
An “upset” with the weight on “up”.
So adjective and noun - a third
And different way to use the word
Is as a verb - we have to get
The weight much later, on the “set”.
“Have I upset you (made you sad)?”
Three words in one - that can’t be bad!
