hot up v. heat up

[Peter Tan]

Quick query. I'm posting from Singapore, where I've noticed the local
broadsheet _The Straits Times_ talking about the competition for a
resort 'heating up' (ie the headline says 'Competition heats up'). Now,
I'm sure this is wrong, and what they meant to say is: 'Competition
hots up' (meaning the competition is getting exciting). I imagine what
happened was that someone was familiar with 'hot up', but this person
or some editor got cold feet about using 'hot' as a verb and
substituted it with 'heat'.

My dictionary indicates that 'to hot up' is British informal.

(1) Could USAns confirm that it cannot be used in this way? If so, how
would this be expressed?
(2) Would everyone agree that 'heats up' is wrong usage here?

Cheers,
Peter

[TakenEvent]

Post by Peter Tan
Quick query. I'm posting from Singapore, where I've noticed the local
broadsheet _The Straits Times_ talking about the competition for a
resort 'heating up' (ie the headline says 'Competition heats up'). Now,
I'm sure this is wrong, and what they meant to say is: 'Competition
hots up' (meaning the competition is getting exciting). I imagine what
happened was that someone was familiar with 'hot up', but this person
or some editor got cold feet about using 'hot' as a verb and
substituted it with 'heat'.
My dictionary indicates that 'to hot up' is British informal.
(1) Could USAns confirm that it cannot be used in this way? If so, how
would this be expressed?
(2) Would everyone agree that 'heats up' is wrong usage here?

I'm in Michigan, USA and I've never heard of "hot up". Around here "hot up"
would probably be considered a lame attempt at humor or a poor attempt at
American English. According to MWCD, "hot up" dates at least to 1561. I
really hope it doesn't catch on in America.

[Oleg Lego]

Post by Peter Tan
(1) Could USAns confirm that it cannot be used in this way? If so, how
would this be expressed?

I'm in Canada, and have never heard "hot up" or "hots up".

Post by Peter Tan
(2) Would everyone agree that 'heats up' is wrong usage here?

No. "heats up" is what I would use.

[Mark Brader]

Post by Oleg Lego

Post by Peter Tan
(1) Could USAns confirm that it cannot be used in this way? If so, how
would this be expressed?

I'm in Canada, and have never heard "hot up" or "hots up".

I'm also in Canada, and I *have* heard "hot up", but I don't remember
where -- perhaps it was a British source. Specifically, it seems most
natural to me in the present progressive, "is hotting up"; "hots up"
seems a bit weird, outside of headline language.