If you ask someone in the North of England to knock you up, you are asking them to wake you up, in other words a wake up call. In some parts of the world getting knocked up is a term for, how shall I put it, getting 'laid' (more slang) or even worse pregnant.

My grandmother used to get knocked up by 'Lucy Lamplighter' the woman who went round the streets before dawn lighting the gas lamps with a aid of a long pole. While she was at it she knocked on the bedroom windows to wake everyone up in time to get t'mill. Lancashire being the centre of the cotton industry at the time.

So Baerbel if you want to get up early in the UK, ask to be 'knocked up', in North America I would go with a 'wake up' call.

Cheers Sue Waterloo ON