


































Education, Language and Sociology Research 

ISSN 2690-3644 (Print) ISSN 2690-3652 (Online) 

Vol. 3, No. 3, 2022 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 

25 
 

Original Paper 

Fed up of and Fed up with in Two Corpora 

Namkil Kang1 

1 Far East University, South Korea 

 

Received: June 16, 2022          Accepted: July 9, 2022        Online Published: July 28, 2022 

doi:10.22158/elsr.v3n3p25           URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v3n3p25 

 

Abstract  

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that fed up of and fed up with are low similarity 

synonyms. A point to note is that fed up with was always favored over fed up of in twenty countries’ web 

from 2010 to 2022. A further point to note is that the figure of fed up of and fed up with reached a peak 

in 2019 and 2020, respectively. When it comes to the COCA, fed up of and fed up with have the same 

property in the magazine genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres. This in 

turn implies that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres. With respect to the Euclidean 

distance, fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the TV/movie genre. Quite interestingly, the NC shows 

that fed up of people and fed up with people are the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web. Finally, 

with respect to the NC, it is interesting to note that 18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed 

up of and fed up with. It can thus be inferred that fed up of and fed up with are low similarity synonyms.  

Keywords 

NC, COCA, type, token, fed up of, fed up with 

 

1. Introduction 

The main goal of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of fed up of and fed up with in the Now 

Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. As Murphy (2016, 2019) points out, fed up 

of and fed up with are used synonymously. As argued in Kang (2022), the COCA is a representative 

corpus for English learning. First, we aim to investigate the diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up 

with used in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. Second, we aim to compare fed up of and fed up 

with by observing their frequency in eight genres. Third, we attempt to investigate the similarity between 

fed up of and fed up with by checking the distance between them in each genre. Fourth, we aim to compare 

fed up of and fed up with in terms of the collocational analysis, which is meant to provide the pattern of 

two types. The Now Corpus provides the collocational pattern which is used in twenty countries’ web. 

The organization of this paper is as follows. In section 2, we argue that fed up with was always favored 

over fed up of in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. We further argue that fed up of and fed up 



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with had the highest frequency in twenty countries’ web in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In section 3, we 

maintain that fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the magazine genre, whereas they have 

different properties in the other seven genres, thus revealing that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up 

with in eight genres. Also, we argue that that fed up of and fed up with show the highest similarity in the 

TV/movie genre. In section 4, we contend that fed up of people and fed up with people are the most 

preferred ones in twenty countries’ web. Finally, we further contend that 18.18% of forty four nouns are 

the collocations of fed up of and fed up with. 

 

2. Discussion  

2.1 The Now Corpus 

In what follows, we aim to consider the diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up with in the Now Corpus. 

Table 1 shows the use of fed up of and fed up with in twenty centuries’ web: 

 

Table 1. Frequency of Fed up of and Fed up with in the Now Corpus 

Time period Fed up of Fed up with 

2010 106 678 

2011 154 844 

2012 158 907 

2013 173 959 

2014 180 994 

2015 214 1,136 

2016 722 3,533 

2017 715 3,592 

2018 679 3,212 

2019 753 3,680 

2020 666 3,885 

2021 504 3,622 

2022 310 2,253 

All 5,334 29,295 

 

An important question is “Which type is the preferred one in twenty countries’ web”? Table 1 clearly 

indicates that fed up with is preferred over fed up of in twenty countries’ web. More specifically, the 

overall frequency of fed up with is 29,295 tokens in the Now Corpus, whereas that of fed up of is 5,334 

tokens. Interestingly, the frequency of fed up with (29,295 tokens) is five times higher than that of fed up 

of (5,334 tokens). This in turn implies that twenty countries’ web designers prefer using fed up with rather 

than using fed up of.  

Now attention is paid to the diachronic aspects of fed up of and fed up with in the Now Corpus.  

 



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Figure 1. Diachronic Aspects of Fed up of and Fed up with in the Now Corpus 

 

There was a gradual increase (a rise of 52 tokens) in the figure of fed up of from 2010 to 2012. More 

interestingly, the figure of fed up of steadily increased to 56 tokens from 2012 to 2014. It should be 

pointed out that there was a sharp rise (an increase of 542 tokens) in the figure of fed up of from 2014 to 

2016. Quite interestingly, the figure of fed up of suddenly decreased to 43 tokens from 2016 to 2018. It 

is worth noting that the figure of fed up of reached a peak (753 tokens) in 2019. This in turn suggests that 

fed up of was the most preferred one in twenty countries’ web in 2019. Quite interestingly, the figure of 

fed up of steadily decreased to 443 tokens from 2019 to 2022. It is worth pointing out that there was an 

upward trend in the figure of fed up of from 2010 to 2016, but the figure of fed up of did not exhibit such 

a phenomenon from 2019 to 2022.  

It is worth mentioning that the figure of fed up with gradually increased to 229 tokens from 2010 to 2012. 

Interestingly, there was a gradual rise (a rise of 87 tokens) in the figure of fed up with from 2012 to 2014. 

It is probably worthwhile pointing out that there was a dramatic increase (a rise of 2,598 tokens) in the 

figure of fed up with from 2014 to 2017. More interestingly, the figure of fed up with steadily increased 

to 293 tokens from 2017 to 2020 except 2018. A point to note is that the figure of fed up with reached a 

peak (3,885 tokens) in 2020. This in turn indicates that fed up with is the most preferred one in twenty 

countries’ web in 2020. Quite interestingly, there was a sharp decrease (a decrease of 1,632 tokens) in 

the figure of fed up with from 2020 to 2022. It should be pointed out that there was an upward trend in 

the figure of fed up with from 2010 to 2020 except 2018, but the figure of fed up with decreased from 

2021 to 2022. Additionally, it is interesting to note that fed up with was always preferred over fed up of 

in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022.  

 

 

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

2010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022

Fr
e
q
u
e
n
cy

Year

Fed up of Fed up with



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2.2 The Corpus of Contemporary American English 

In the following, we aim to investigate the similarity between fed up of and fed up with in the COCA. 

Table 2 shows the frequency of fed up of and fed up with in the COCA: 

 

Table 2. Frequency of Fed up of and Fed up with  

GENRE ALL BLOG WEB TV/M SPOK FIC MAG NEWS ACAD 

Fed up of 72 26 29 7 8 1 1 0 0 

Fed up with 2,322 390 353 185 464 182 297 403 48 

 

It is important to note that fed up with is preferred over fed up of (2,322 tokens vs. 72 tokens) in the 

COCA. To be more specific, the overall frequency of fed up with is 2,322 tokens, whereas that of fed up 

of is 72 tokens. This in turn suggests that fed up with is preferable to fed up of in America. Additionally, 

it is worth mentioning that fed up of is not the frequently used one in America. It can thus be inferred that 

Americans do not prefer the type fed up of. Note that the frequency of fed up with (2,322 tokens) is thirty 

two times higher than that of fed up of (72 tokens).  

It is significant to note that fed up of ranks first (29 tokens) in the web genre, whereas fed up with ranks 

first (464 tokens) in the spoken genre, thereby exhibiting no similarity in rank-one. It should be pointed 

out that the frequency of fed up with (353 tokens) in the web genre is twelve times higher than that of fed 

up of (29 tokens). It can be inferred from this that fed up with is preferred over fed up of by web designers 

in America. It is worth pointing out, on the other hand, that the frequency of fed up with (464 tokens) in 

the spoken genre is fifty eight times higher than that of fed up of (8 tokens). From this it is clear that 

Americans prefer to use fed up with rather than use fed up of in daily conversation.  

It is interesting to note that fed up of ranks second (26 tokens) in the blog genre, whereas fed up with 

ranks second (403 tokens) in the newspaper genre, thus showing no similarity in rank-two. Quite 

interestingly, when it comes to the blog genre, the type fed up with (390 tokens) is favored over the type 

fed up of (26 tokens). This in turn indicates that American bloggers prefer using fed up with rather than 

using fed up of. It must be noted, on the other hand, that the frequency of fed up with in the newspaper 

genre is 403 tokens, but that of fed up of is 0 token. We take this as suggesting that American journalists 

prefer using fed up with, but they do not use fed up of in the newspaper.  

It is worthwhile noting that fed up of ranks third (8 tokens) in the spoken genre, whereas fed up with 

ranks third (390 tokens) in the blog genre, hence showing no similarity in two genres. It should be noted 

that fed up of ranks third in the spoken genre, but its frequency is not that high (8 tokens), which in turn 

implies that Americans do not like using fed up of in daily conversation.  

It is interesting to point out that fed up of ranks fourth (7 tokens) in the TV/movie genre, whereas fed up 

with ranks fourth (353 tokens) in the web genre, hence showing no similarity in rank-four. More 

interestingly, the frequency of fed up with (185 tokens) in the TV/movie genre is twenty six times higher 



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than that of fed up of (7 tokens). This in turn indicates that American celebrities prefer to use fed up with 

(185 tokens) rather than use fed up of (7 tokens).  

It is worth mentioning that fed up of ranks fifth (1 token) in the fiction and magazine genres, whereas fed 

up with ranks fifth (297 tokens) in the magazine genre. It must be noted that fed up of and fed up with 

rank fifth (1 token vs. 297 tokens) in the magazine genre, thus exhibiting the same ranking. It should be 

pointed out, however, that the frequency of fed up with is two hundred and ninety seven times higher 

than that of fed up of in the magazine genre. This in turn suggests that American journalists like using 

fed up with in their magazines, but they do not use fed up of.  

It is worthwhile pointing out that fed up of ranks sixth (0 token) in the newspaper genre and the academic 

genre, whereas fed up with ranks sixth (185 tokens) in the TV/movie genre. Fed up of and fed up with 

show a different property with respect to the same ranking. When it comes to the academic genre, fed up 

with (48 tokens) is preferred over fed up of (0 token) by Americans. This in turn implies that Americans 

prefer to use fed up with rather than use fed up of in the academic field.  

It is interesting to note that fed up with ranks seventh (182 tokens) in the fiction genre and it ranks eighth 

(48 tokens) in the academic genre. It must be noted that the frequency of fed up with is 182 tokens in the 

fiction genre, whereas that of fed up of is 1 token. From this it is clear that fed up with is preferred over 

fed up of by American writers. To sum up, fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the 

magazine genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres. It can thus be inferred 

that fed up of is 14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres.  

Now attention is paid to the percentage of fed up of and fed up with in eight genres: 

 

 

Figure 2. Percentage of Fed up of in Eight Genres 

 

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Blog Web TV/M Spok Fic Mag News Acad

P
er

en
ct

ag
e 

(%
)

Genre



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As exemplified in Figure 2, the web genre is the most influenced by fed up of, followed by the blog genre, 

the spoken genre, the TV/movie genre, the fiction genre (the magazine genre), and the academic genre 

(the newspaper genre), in that order.  

 

 

Figure 3. Percentage of Fed up with in Eight Genres 

 

As indicated in Figure 3, the spoken genre is the most influenced by fed up with, followed by the 

newspaper genre, the blog genre, the web genre, the magazine genre, the TV/movie genre, the fiction 

genre, and the academic genre, in descending order.  

Now let us turn to the Euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with in eight genres. Note that the 

Euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with shows the degree of the similarity between them. 

We define the Euclidean distance in this way: 

(1) Euclidean distance 

 

𝐸𝑑(𝑎, 𝑏) = (∑(𝑎𝑖 − 𝑏𝑖)
2)

𝑛

𝑖=1

1/2

 

Where: 

 

𝐸𝑑: Euclidean distance 

𝑎𝑖: Percentage of fed up of 

𝑏𝑖: Percentage of fed up with. 

 

 

0

5

10

15

20

25

Blog Web TV/M Spok Fic Mag News Acad

P
er

ce
n

ta
ge

 (
%

)

Genre



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Table 3. Euclidean Distance between Fed up of and Fed up with 

GENRE BLOG WEB TV/M SPOK FIC MAG NEWS ACAD 

Percentage of fed up of 36.11 40.27 9.72 11.11 1.38 1.38 0 0 

Percentage of fed up 

with 

16.79 15.2 7.96 19.98 7.83 12.79 17.35 2.06 

Euclidean distance 19.32 25.07 1.76 8.87 6.45 11.41 17.35 2.06 

 

Quite interestingly, fed up of is the furthest from fed up with in the web genre. The Euclidean distance 

between fed up of and fed up with is 25.07, which is the highest in the web genre. This in turn implies 

that fed up of and fed up with show the lowest similarity in the web genre. It is significant to note, on the 

other hand, that fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the TV/movie genre. More specifically, the 

Euclidean distance between fed up of and fed up with in the TV/movie genre is 1.76, which is the lowest. 

This in turn indicates that fed up of and fed up with show the highest similarity in the TV/movie genre. 

We thus conclude that fed up of is the nearest to fed up with in the TV/movie genre.  

2.3 The Collocations of Fed up of and Fed up with in the Now Corpus 

In the following, we aim to consider the collocations of fed up of and fed up with in the Now Corpus. 

Table 4 shows the collocation of fed up of in the top 26: 

 

Table 4. Collocation of Fed up of in the Now Corpus 

Number Collocation of fed up of Frequency 

1 Fed up of people 86 

2 Fed up of life 20 

3 Fed up of betrayal 18 

4 Fed up of wordpress 18 

5 Fed up of hearing 15 

6 Fed up of corruption 14 

7 Fed up of sex 14 

8 Fed up of politicians 13 

9 Fed up of politics 12 

10 Fed up of dynasty 10 

11 Fed up of being 8 

12 Fed up of harassment 8 

13 Fed up of Brexit 6 

14 Fed up of broadcasting 6 

15 Fed up of football 6 

16 Fed up of government 6 

17 Fed up of lockdown 6 

18 Fed up of violence 6 

19 Fed up of inaction 5 

20 Fed up of promises 5 

21 Fed up of women 5 

22 Fed up of cars 4 

23 Fed up of drug 4 

24 Fed up of media 4 

25 Fed up of militancy 4 

26 Fed up of parking 4 

 



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An important question is “Which noun is the most preferred one with fed up of in twenty countries’ web?” 

Table 4 clearly indicates that the collocation which is the most preferred (86 tokens) with fed up of is 

people. This in turn suggests that fed up of people is the most preferable one (86 tokens) for web designers 

in twenty countries. As exemplified in Table 4, fed up of people (86 tokens) is the most preferred one, 

followed by fed up of life, fed up of betrayal (fed up of wordpress), fed up of hearing, fed up of corruption 

(fed up of sex), fed up of politicians, and fed up of politics, in that order. It is interesting to note that fed 

up of life ranks second (20 tokens) in twenty countries’ web. It is worth observing, on the other hand, that 

fed up of politicians ranks eighth (13 tokens) in the Now Corpus and fed up of politics ranks twelfth (12 

tokens). Finally, it should be noted that fed up of government ranks thirteenth (6 tokens) in twenty 

countries’ web. We thus conclude that fed up of people is the most preferred one in twenty countries’ web.  

Now let us turn to the collocation of fed up with in the Now Corpus: 

 

Table 5. Collocation of fed up with in the Now Corpus 

Number Collocation of fed up with Frequency 

1 Fed up with people 306 

2 Fed up with corruption 200 

3 Fed up with politics 142 

4 Fed up with life 128 

5 Fed up with politicians 113 

6 Fed up with crime 91 

7 Fed up with government 72 

8 Fed up with years 67 

9 Fed up with trump 63 

10 Fed up with police 50 

11 Fed up with president 44 

12 Fed up with regime 40 

13 Fed up with inaction 38 

14 Fed up with Mr 38 

15 Fed up with gun 36 

16 Fed up with delays 32 

17 Fed up with traffic 31 

18 Fed up with austerity 30 

19 Fed up with congress 30 

20 Fed up with violence 27 

21 Fed up with restrictions 24 

22 Fed up with city 23 

23 Fed up with racism 23 

24 Fed up with feeling 20 

25 Fed up with lack 20 

26 Fed up with men 20 

 

It is significant to note that fed up with people is the most preferred one (306 tokens) in the Now Corpus. 

This in turn shows that the expression fed up with people (306 tokens) is the most preferable one among 

twenty countries’ web designers. As alluded to in Table 5, fed up with people is the most preferred (306 

tokens) by twenty countries’ web designers, followed by fed up with corruption, fed up with politics, fed 



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up with life, fed up with politicians, fed up with crime, and fed up with government, in that order. It must 

be pointed out that fed up of politics ranks ninth (12 tokens) in twenty countries’ web, whereas fed up 

with politics ranks third (142 tokens). It is interesting to point out, on the other hand, that fed up of 

government ranks thirteenth (6 tokens) in the Now Corpus, whereas fed up with government ranks seventh 

(72 tokens). It is important to note that eight nouns are the collocations of both fed up of and fed up with 

in the Now Corpus. The eight nouns are people, corruption, politics, life, politicians, government, 

inaction, and violence. It can thus be inferred that 18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed 

up of and fed up with. We thus conclude that fed up of and fed up with show a low degree of similarity in 

the Now Corpus.  

 

3. Conclusion 

To sum up, we have provided a comparative analysis of fed up of and fed up with in the Now Corpus and 

the Corpus of Contemporary American English. In section 2, we have argued that fed up with was always 

preferred over fed up of in twenty countries’ web from 2010 to 2022. We have further argued that fed up 

of and fed up with were the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web in 2019 and 2020, respectively. 

In section 3, we have maintained that fed up of and fed up with have the same property in the magazine 

genre, whereas they have different properties in the other seven genres. This indicates that fed up of is 

14.28% the same as fed up with in eight genres. Also, we have argued that that fed up of is the nearest to 

fed up with in the TV/movie genre. In section 4, we have contended that fed up of people and fed up with 

people are the most preferred ones in twenty countries’ web. Finally, we have further contended that 

18.18% of forty four nouns are the collocations of fed up of and fed up with. 

 

References 

Murphy, R. (2016). Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press. 

Murphy, R. (2019). English Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press.  

Kang, N. (2022). A Comparative Analysis of Impressed by and Impressed with in Two Corpora. Theory 

and practice in language studies, 12, 819-827. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1205.01 

Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). (1, July 2022). Retrieved from 

https://corpus.byu.edu/coca  

Now Corpus. (NC). (1, July 2022). Retrieved from https://english-corpora.org/now/ 

 

https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1205.01
https://english-corpora.org/now/

