[idiom] up stick/to pull up stakes

Perfect StrangerI don't want to up sticks all my life. It'd be great to finally settle down somewhere.

This doesn't sound exactly right to me. "up sticks" is a discrete action, not an ongoing state or activity, so something like "I don't want to keep (on) upping sticks" or "I don't want to be constantly upping sticks"

GPYI don't know the expression "pull up stakes", so I'll let someone else comment on that. However, I suspect it may suffer from the same issue.

As far as I know, it's the American version of the same thing; however, my American ears are willing to let "pull up stakes all my life" mean implicitly "keep pulling up stakes all my life". The phrase "all my life"

Hi

In UK English, it's an idiom I recognise. Maybe it's unusual because there's no verb after 'to'. This is how we say it

- I've only just got my daughter in to school, I don't want to up sticks again

It's not for me to say how it is in the US, but I'd guess at:

- I've only just got my daughter in to school, I don't want to pull up stakes again

Dave

dave_anonMaybe it's unusual because there's no verb after 'to'.

Um, the verb is "up".

You're right. I must up my game

Dave

Thank you for those answers! Much appreciated!