Re: 'BLOW UP' = 'EXPLOSION' was re: Push (3)

On 2009-01-12 09:15, G&P wrote:

> I remember as a child being puzzled by that use of “blow” where I
> expected “blow up”. I suppose it’s possible “blow” is simply a shortening.

The sound of the particle was drowned by the explosion ;-). There are a
number of semantically similar verbs that can do without <up>, e.g.
<burst>, <break> and <snap>. Perhaps they are so obviously perfective
that further characterisation is redundant.

> In this context, I cannot resist telling you of a Japanese manual that
> warned me not to put batteries in the fire, or they might blow off.
> (For non-native speakers, that has an entirely different meaning,
> connected with flatulence.)

If a bomb does that it means that either the ignition mechanism has
failed or it's a stink bomb.

Piotr


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