Imponderable #918

As both of you know, I am addicted to the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. This does not mean I am good at them. Typically, I can get to about Thursday’s puzzle before I come to a grinding halt. The remainder of the week is spent just feeling stupid.

I haven’t had any time to work on the puzzles this week so I was very excited to wake up early this morning, make some tea, ready to chip away at the week before my baby goats woke up and began their job of being goats.

I usually time myself on Mondays and Tuesdays, but the reality is that I am almost never done in less than 10 minutes. When I am on the clock, I usually do not think a lot about the clues or the answers.

As I was working through Monday’s puzzle, I came across a clue that made me stop and I spent more time considering if this would be a good one to add to my list of Imponderables. Imponderables are those stupid little things that we take for granted.

6 Down clue was [Stand up on hind legs, as a horse]. The answer, of course, is REARSUP.

My imponderable: Why is it called “rears up” when in fact it is the rear that goes down and the front goes up? Should it be renamed “fronts up?”

[Oh, and if you are the commenter that I write about in my previous post, please don't take this question seriously. I fully understand that the verb"rear" is not the same as the noun "rear" and may not even have the same etymology. You see, I am actually almost as good as you are at using Google. ]

Have fun out there!