"The world needs to shore up assistance for impoverished countries." "The University of California has moved to shore up the security for its computer network." "Europe's central bank is trying to shore up the economy.

As these sentences from recent newspaper stories suggest, there's a whole lot of "shoring up" going on these days. But how did this phrase originate?

Because "shore up" means "to prop up, support," you might picture seawalls or dunes reinforcing a shoreline. Instead, picture a two-by-four holding up the side of an old barn. Though the coastal "shore" and the bracing "shore" look and sound alike, they're actually two different words.

The waterfront "shore" is derived from the Middle Low German word "schor" (coast). Some believe its ultimate source is the Old Norse "sker" (to cut, shear) because it originally referred to land "cut off" from the mainland by tidal marshes.

The bracing "shore" derives from the Middle Dutch "schooren" (to prop up, support), which might come from the Old Norse "skoroa" (a piece of timber set up as a support).

This meaning is hardly a linguistic "dino-shore." Engineers, carpenters and builders still use "shore" and "shoring" to refer to braces and supports. But most of us deploy this meaning only in the phrase "shore up."

Another "up" phrase with a rather obscure origin is "gussied up," meaning "extensively dressed-up and made-up, often to excess." Picture Dustin Hoffman all gussied up in "Tootsie."

One theory traces this phrase, which first emerged in the U.S. about 1950, to "gusset," a triangular piece of fabric sewn into the seam of a garment to improve its fit. Because this doodad was often planted in expensive dresses, someone wearing fancy clothing was said to be "gussied up."

Other linguists attribute the phrase to "gussie" (short for "Augustus"), which appeared in early twentieth-century Australia as a slang term for a dandy, a type of man who enjoyed dressing up.

A third theory focuses on the American tennis player Gertrude Augusta Moran, who earned the nickname "Gorgeous Gussy" when she sported frilly lace panties at the 1949 Wimbledon tournament, shocking the dowagers of the Downton Abbey set. Oh, my word!

The fact that "gussy up" first appeared in print in 1952 seems to shore up the "Gorgeous Gussy" theory. But some linguists claim the term was common in speech by the early 1940s, so it's not quite name, set, match.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.