The phrase do it up brown can have two very different meanings: to “do something to perfection,” as in something that is perfectly cooked, and “to swindle” someone or beat them at their own game — metaphorically leaving them “cooked.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Do It Up Brown”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Oh, hi. This is Sue from Santee. I wanted to ask about the phrase, do it up brown. It’s something I haven’t heard in a while. I don’t hear it at all from my peer group, but I do hear it from older people.
And just recently I was watching Turner Classics and I saw Kitty Foyle and Old Black and White with Ginger Rogers. And they mentioned do it up brown. And then another movie I saw, it’s like clearly it’s an older deal. But I do hear it once in a while.
Do it up brown. And in what context would you hear it? I mean, what did the phrase mean exactly?
Well, to me, I mean, to me it means let’s pull out all the stops and really celebrate. It’s like, let’s have a bash or like a couple has decided to get engaged and let’s do it up brown. Let’s go out and get dressed up and do the town and look smashing, that kind of thing.
Yeah, that sounds about right. Do it up brown. Do something to perfection or thoroughly or excellently. There’s also just to do brown or do up brown without the it in there. And the idea here, both versions or all versions of this phrase go back to the idea that you are cooking something, that you perhaps are perfectly cooking a cut of meat or baking a bit of pastry to perfection.
So it’s just the idea that you’re comparing what you’re currently doing to making food perfectly. You’re browning exactly as it should be done. However, there’s also negatives for this as well, where to do brown or do it brown was to beat somebody at their own game or to conquer them in a challenge or to cheat or to swindle them. And that kind of cooking was maybe to roast them on a spit or to cook them until they were done.
It was a different kind, but still had the cooking metaphor in there. Still the idea that they were singed rather than cooked to perfection. So you do have the positive and the negative connotations. The do it brown or the do it up brown was usually positive, but the do up brown or the do brown was sometimes negative but also positive.
And occasionally if you look, Sue, you’ll find do it up blue instead of do it up brown with the same kind of variation and meaning. I would never have thought of a cooking metaphor. I mean, I was thinking brown, what a dull color, you know. Do it up spectacular doesn’t sound brown. But cooking totally makes sense.
Sue, I’m really digging your description of getting gussied up and going out. It seems like a long time since that’s happened. Yeah, I mean, it was like doing the town, you know, or white tie and tail kind of thing, you know. Yeah.
Cool. Well, thank you so much. Well, Sue from Santee, California, thank you for your call. We really appreciate it. Take care. Thank you.
All right. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Do it up round and do it up right. Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send your thoughts and observations about language to words@waywordradio.org.
