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Discussion Groups / English Usage / August 2007"to blow clear" slang ?
Could you, native speakers explain to me what "blow clear" means in this sentence: " If she'd been wearing socks, P. thought as she aimed for her bedroom, they'd have blown clear across Jones Street during that good- night kiss." hhgygy@gmail.com had it ... > Could you, native speakers explain to me what "blow clear" means in > this sentence: > > " If she'd been wearing socks, P. thought as she aimed for her > bedroom, they'd have blown clear across Jones Street during that good- > night kiss." "clear across" means "all the way across". "clear" can be used with a meaning similar to "completely" or "totally".  SignatureDavid ===== > hhg...@gmail.com had it ... > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > David > ===== The question, then, is what blown means in this context. > > > " If she'd been wearing socks, P. thought as she aimed for her > > > bedroom, they'd have blown clear across Jones Street during that good- [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > The question, then, is what blown means in this context. 1. This is a metaphor. Blow/blown means here moved by a current of air, as follows an explosion. The core idea is that the kiss was explosively intensive. 2. Active voice of the verb (they'd have blown) iis non-standard. In this context, English speakers usually use the passive voice -- i.e. the socks would have been blown clear across the street. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) Thank you all for the explanations. On Aug 30, 5:47 am, "Don Phillipson" <d.phillipsonSPAMBL...@ncf.ca> wrote: > <hhg...@gmail.com> wrote in message > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > voice -- i.e. the socks would have been blown clear across > the street. To me, that "middle voice" use of "blow" is normal. Leaves, snow, and answers blow in the wind--why can't socks? -- Jerry Friedman > To me, that "middle voice" use of "blow" is normal. Leaves, snow, > and answers blow in the wind--why can't socks? The answer, my friend, is a mystery. It's just occurred to me that an exciting or unexpected encounter would _knock_ my socks off. Having someone blow my socks off vaguely suggests a sexual image. SignaturePeter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page. >On Aug 30, 5:47 am, "Don Phillipson" <d.phillipsonSPAMBL...@ncf.ca> >wrote: [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >To me, that "middle voice" use of "blow" is normal. Leaves, snow, and >answers blow in the wind--why can't socks? How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a cab? hhgygy@gmail.com had it ... > > hhg...@gmail.com had it ... > > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > The question, then, is what blown means in this context. The kiss was so powerful that it would have caused her socks to be blown across the road. "blown" means "caused to move by the wind or by an explosion". It's not meant to be literal. Leaves are blown by the wind. Also, there's an expression: "<something> was so powerful, it nearly blew my socks off". This use of "blow" relates more to explosions. "blown up" means "destroyed by explosion". SignatureDavid ===== >Could you, native speakers explain to me what "blow clear" means in >this sentence: > >" If she'd been wearing socks, P. thought as she aimed for her >bedroom, they'd have blown clear across Jones Street during that good- >night kiss." There's an expression - American only, I think - "blow your socks off". It means something very exciting: This new computer game will blow your socks off. So P. thought the kiss was very exciting; so exciting, in fact, that it would have blown her socks for a great distance. "Blown clear" is the wrong emphasis. "Clear across" means "all the way across" in Amerispeak. Since the expression is a metaphorical one, the socks can be metaphorical as explained in "If she'd been wearing socks". SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL > Could you, native speakers explain to me what "blow clear" means in > this sentence: > > " If she'd been wearing socks, P. thought as she aimed for her > bedroom, they'd have blown clear across Jones Street during that good- > night kiss." When some people are electrocuted, the current enters the body in the upper region and seeks the ground through the feet. There is an explosive contact, which is known to knock the shoes off the victim's feet. (In a recent multiple electrocution in our town, three people were set afire in a puddle of water by a downed power line. They had just stepped off the bus, which had stopped in the great puddle formed by a blocked storm sewer grate.) Picture the greatest shock you get with a kiss (or a look--some enchanted evening) or any "orgasmic" experience, and relate that to the electric shock experience. As Tony says, "blow one's socks off", or "knock" them off. "Clear (sometimes "clean") through, across, down, over, above" are all expressions to emphasize a great distance, without an object's skimming or touching any objects before reaching the ground or the destination. |
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