"Re-up"

       I spontaneously (and thoughtlessly) said this when speaking to the executive director of our temple about our having rejoined the temple later than usual this year.  Why I should care whether it was an untoward word or not since this makes the 45th year in a row that we are members, I don't know!

       But I did wonder afterward whether it was really in the dictionary.  Yes, it was.  After my two years of service in the Korean thing, old sergeants asked me, "Are you going to re-up?"  "Why sign up for an organization in which I see no foreseeable future?" I would say.

       An informal military word begun early 20th century, "re-enlist"; now, also wider applications.  The Oxford English Dictionary designates it U.S. Slang.  Heaven forbid anyone British should use it!