square up

What it means

Said straight to a person, "square up" is a challenge: it asks whether they want to fight. Dictionary.com describes the modern use as often pseudo-serious, a mock dare over something trivial, which fits "you ate my fries?? square up." In a meme or a comment section it is almost always exaggeration. Face to face, with an angry tone, close distance or clenched fists, the same words can be a real invitation to fight, and addressing someone as an opponent is why it can sound threatening even when it is meant as a joke. Collins Dictionary documents two more senses. "Square up with" someone, or "we need to square up after dinner", means to pay or settle what you owe, and nothing about a fight is meant. "Square up to" a person or a problem means to face it directly, and a WordReference discussion notes that this one is common in British usage. Sports writers use "the teams squared up" for opponents facing each other, usually without heat. Three cues sort out a fight meaning. The relationship matters: a friend who has been laughing along is probably joking, while a stranger, a coworker or someone already upset is a different situation. The setting matters: in a group chat the phrase performs aggression, and in person distance and posture carry more of the message than the words. The delivery matters most: a smile, a silly pose or a ridiculous reason like the last chicken nugget signal play. If it arrives with a threat, a weapon, a blocked exit or someone stepping into your space, treat it as real, create distance and find other people. The FBI's threat guide describes fighting as a last resort when no safer action can protect someone from imminent danger. Between friends, a joke back such as "I'll pay you back for the fries, relax" keeps it light. At work or school, "let's talk this through" fits better.

See the quick definition in the square up dictionary entry.

How to use it

• “you ate my fries?? square up”

  Mock challenge among friends over something small. The joking fight sense.

• “ok we gotta square up after dinner, i owe you like 20”

  The money sense. Nobody is fighting.

• “the two teams squared up before kickoff”

  Sports phrasing for opponents facing each other, usually neutral.

• “she decided to square up to the problem”

  Facing a difficulty directly.

Where it came from

The fight sense is old. Dictionary.com explains it as a boxer's stance, a head-on squared posture that allows more power, and says that by the late 1700s to square up meant to challenge an opponent in any arena. That entry gives no quotation for the late 1700s. A firmer record is the Oxford English Dictionary's citation of an 1848 passage in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, discussed in a WordReference thread, which uses "squaring up" to a person. In 1860, John Camden Hotten's slang dictionary, on Project Gutenberg, defined "to square up to a man" as offering to fight him.

The payment sense comes from a different branch of "square," meaning to make something even or correct. Dictionary.com says gentlemen were squaring up their accounts as early as 1820. No single coiner is documented for either sense.

The meme version came much later. Know Your Meme records a February 5, 2015 Tumblr post by Mare-Bear-Stare and a November 18, 2015 Twitter reaction image from @ShannSharpe2 of a man in a fighting stance, then a March 11, 2017 Reddit variation called "cube up". In 2018, Zack Fox and Kenny Beats made a song called "Square Up", and Will Schube's November 2, 2018 Vice piece covered the "Square Up Challenge", a joke dance of clenched fists and mock fighting. Fox helped popularize a song, a dance and a joke use of a phrase that was already centuries old.

Where it's popular

General English-language use in memes, comment sections, group chats, sports coverage and hip-hop. Collins documents American and British senses, and "square up to" is common in British usage.

Dictionary.com says anyone can use it, not only boxers, and that it turns up in sports and in metaphorical settings such as politics and humor.

How it caught on

1. Late 1700sDictionary.com dates the sense of squaring up to challenge an opponent to this period.
2. 1820Dictionary.com dates squaring up accounts, meaning settling them, to at least this year.
3. 1848The Oxford English Dictionary cites Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms for "squaring up" to a person.
4. 1860Hotten's slang dictionary defines "to square up to a man" as offering to fight him.
5. February 5, 2015A Tumblr post by Mare-Bear-Stare is one of the earliest examples of the squared-up fighting pose, per Know Your Meme.
6. November 18, 2015A reaction image of a man in a fighting stance is posted to Twitter by @ShannSharpe2.
7. March 11, 2017A Reddit variation called "cube up" extends the joke.
8. November 2, 2018Vice publishes Will Schube's piece on Zack Fox and the Square Up Challenge.

Test yourself

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How every generation says it

• How every generation says fight or conflict

Questions people ask

• https://www.dictionary.com/culture/slang/square-up
• https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/square-up
• https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/is-square-up-a-british-expression.2340791/
• https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47018/old/47018-h/47018-h.htm
• https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/square-up
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/zack-fox-square-up-challenge-interview/
• https://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/square.html
• https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/threat-intimidation-guide
• https://www.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/personal-safety-how-to-stay-safe/respond-violent-situation/