# Upsot

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 9, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350 "2007-12-09T04:05:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350/1 "2007-12-09T04:05:54Z")

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One of the verses of “Jingle Bells” is:

\*A day or two ago  
I thought I’d take a ride,  
And soon Miss Fanny Bright  
Was seated by my side.  
The horse was lean and lank;  
Misfortune seemed his lot.  
We got into a drifted bank  
And then we got upsot.

\*Is/was “upsot” an actual word, or did James Pierpont make it up, in the name of rhyme and humor?

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350/2 "2007-12-09T04:10:11Z")

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Apparently, it’s made up to rhyme with “lot” – and is simply “upset”.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350/3 "2007-12-09T04:10:57Z")

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I’m guessing it’s ‘upset’ (as in the sleigh was upset – turned over), modified to fit the rhyme.

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350/4 "2007-12-09T10:48:14Z")

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I think it may be more a colloquial form from the time period.

There are other poems, like [Little Breeches](http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1522.html), by John Hay, that use the word “upsot” as a past participle for “upset”.

At last we struck hosses and wagon,  
Snowed under a soft white mound,  
Upsot, dead beat, but of little Gabe  
No hide nor hair was found. Similarly, the same Hay poem uses “sot” as a past participle of “set”:

And thar sot Little Breeches and chirped,  
As peart as ever you see,  
"I want a chaw of terbacker,  
And that’s what’s the matter of me.

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**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upsot/429350/5 "2007-12-09T11:03:27Z")

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I always thought it was an outdated expression meaning that they got drunk.