# "Headsup" - origin & meaning **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696 "2006-03-09T16:42:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/1 "2006-03-09T16:42:52Z")
I’ve been hearing this more and more, which is fine 'cos I get the meaning in context but what does it mean precisely? and from whence does it come ? **excalibre** uses it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7170549&postcount=22) without an ‘s’; friend (American) asked “Who gave you the heads up for that?” about something I’d done; a student showed me a mail today in which someone said “”… as a headsup for cost reduction". Is it a suggestion, a good idea, a helpful hint ? A trinity of the three ? No that non-native speakers are asking for explanations of the expression I’m a tad llost … help ? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/2 "2006-03-09T16:49:09Z")
I would say that it started as a near-literalism in sports… if you’re passing the ball to a teammate or you don’t think they’re paying attention to what they should be, you’d call “heads up!” ie look around, pay attention. The metaphorical use seems to start close to that… a warning or a reminder to pay attention to something… to keep your head up and looking at what’s around you instead of being sunk into contemplation. Does that make any sense?? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/3 "2006-03-09T16:55:22Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I’ve been hearing this more and more, which is fine 'cos I get the meaning in context but what does it mean precisely? and from whence does it come ? Imagine a herd of any grazing animals. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/4 "2006-03-09T16:55:55Z")
Heads up generally means an alert, or a warning. For instance, I just wrote an email to someone saying “I’m about to start working on x – this is just a heads-up that it will be hitting your desk on Monday or Tuesday.” **chrisk** is right about the etymology, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/5 "2006-03-09T16:58:06Z")
I don’t know the origin, but I remember hearing it at least 40 years ago. It was used to mean pay attention, look up, or something’s coming that you really need to know about. You hear it at a baseball game when a foul ball is popped up into the stands. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/6 "2006-03-09T17:03:55Z")
“Heads up” is indeed to give a warning to pay attention. But the example you linked to ( **excalibre** ’s) is different. He said “…And at least some aspects of pronunciation are taught in order to permit poetry to be read. I imagine that would at least be a head up - just like a scholar of Old English lit would do better than the rest of us, except there’s a lot more such scholars among the Chinese…” This idiom is “head up” and it does not mean the same thing. “Head up” means has an advantage or a lead in. To have a head up means you have a “head start” - or will find a task easier because you’re starting from an adventageous position. Heads up = pay attention Head up = advantage Head start = advantage ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/7 "2006-03-09T17:08:34Z")
Perhaps from a confusion with “leg up” (= advantage or head start)? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/8 "2006-03-09T17:09:58Z")
And in the theatre, specifically if you’re on stage, **HEADS!** means [something’s falling!](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rlindsay/frieze/manual/pg7.html) ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/9 "2006-03-09T17:31:09Z")
…so it has nothing to do with coin tosses? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/10 "2006-03-09T17:32:06Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > “Heads up” is indeed to give a warning to pay attention. > > But the example you linked to ( **excalibre** ’s) is different… Oops – didn’t read the link before I answered; I thought it was a straight “what does this idiom mean?” question. My bad. (Another idiom coming out of sports, meaning “I made a mistake there, that was my fault.”) Frankly, I’ve never heard anyone use it in the sense **excalibre** did – I’d’ve said “leg up” there (an idiom from, um, playground shenanigans – when you boost someone so they can climb over a fence, you give them a leg up). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/11 "2006-03-09T17:36:23Z")
“Heads up” is also used in poker, meaning a hand or (more often) a game with only two players. Most often heard in a tournament context, when all but two players have been eliminated from the tourney. Also sometimes “head to head.” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/12 "2006-03-09T23:15:44Z")
OK - got it, thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/13 "2006-03-09T23:26:38Z")
I always say it when throwing rocks at someone as I want the rocks to impact their face and not the top of their head. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/14 "2006-03-09T23:28:32Z")
I just thought of another use of “head up” - as a verb. As in, “I’m going to head up the trail a bit and see what’s around the curve.” That just means move along, walk, drive (if in a car), etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/15 "2006-03-12T18:23:20Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I’ve been hearing this more and more, which is fine 'cos I get the meaning in context but what does it mean precisely? and from whence does it come Though this thread may now be dead as the question has been answered, I must give a heads up to folks about the use of “from whence”. "Whence’ means “from where” so it should be used without the or “from” to avoid redundancy. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/16 "2006-03-12T18:48:00Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I just thought of another use of “head up” - as a verb. As in, “I’m going to head up the trail a bit and see what’s around the curve.” That just means move along, walk, drive (if in a car), etc.) In this instance, however, “up” simply indicates a general direction and is not part of the idiom. We can just as easily say “head _down_ the trail” or “head _over_ to the Smith place” or “head _right_ at the corner” as “head up the trail.” It is simply a verb meaning to point one’s head in a direction and move and has been in use that way since the seventeenth century. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/17 "2006-03-12T19:12:40Z")
One can, though, “head up” a committee or a team or some other group, which means that you’re leading it. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/18 "2006-03-12T19:48:10Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > Though this thread may now be dead as the question has been answered, I must give a heads up to folks about the use of “from whence”. "Whence’ means “from where” so it should be used without the or “from” to avoid redundancy. Some popular writers have gotten away with it, though. Like [this guy](http://ise.uvic.ca/Texts/search/?StartFrom=1&SearchString=from+whence&MatchType=all&SearchIn=Lines&HitsToShow=10&Speaker=&NearString=). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/19 "2006-03-12T20:24:39Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > One can, though, “head up” a committee or a team or some other group, which means that you’re leading it. Very true. On the other hand, one can simply “head” the committee with the same meaning (also attested several hundred years ago). I am not sure where or when “up” popped into that expression, but I agree that it would be unlikely that anyone would “head down” a committee. (I could think of a few committees that I would have liked to “head”–meaning to decapitate.) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696/20 "2006-03-12T20:36:14Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > Some popular writers have gotten away with it, though. > > Like [this guy](http://ise.uvic.ca/Texts/search/?StartFrom=1&SearchString=from+whence&MatchType=all&SearchIn=Lines&HitsToShow=10&Speaker=&NearString=). _Touche’._ The laddy doth protest too much, methinks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headsup-origin-meaning/347696.md?page=2)