know which end is up
verbEtymology From the common marking this end up on parcels to guide proper transport.
1
Idiomatic To possess sound judgment or common sense; to have a clear understanding of a situation.
- He was too stoned to know which end was up.
- He's so in love, he doesn't know which end is up.1992, Dorothy Garlock, Glorious Dawn, →ISBN:
4 more examples
- “I'll gladly take criticism from a cop who knows which end is up and isn't afraid to do the job the way it should be done.”2005, John C. Hefley, Failure Equals Death, →ISBN, page 29:
- “I'm not some naïve, virginal little nothing who doesn't know which end is up.”2009, Lis Wiehl, April Henry, Face of Betrayal, →ISBN, page 145:
- “[B]elieve me, she is some catch for the right boy—for a boy which knows which end is up.”2010, Gordon Lish, “The Friend”, in Collected Fictions, →ISBN, page 243:
- “When someone doesn't know which end is up, who knows why they do things.”2011, Richard North Patterson, Silent Witness, →ISBN, page 277: