# Blow, as in leave **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 11, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787 "2022-07-11T22:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/1 "2022-07-11T22:34:23Z")
I heard the Clash song ‘Should I stay or Should I Go?’ song on the radio this morning. I was struck by the line, “Should I cool it or should I blow”. Of course, I know that blow in this case means ‘leave’ but I don’t think I’ve ever used it in that way myself. It seems kind of anachronistic, I guess (even for '82). Do you, or have you ever, used this slang? ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/2 "2022-07-11T22:36:06Z")
I’ve heard, and perhaps used jokingly, “let’s blow this joint” to mean “leave.” But not the intransitive version. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/3 "2022-07-11T22:40:17Z")
Lyrics tend not to follow the paradigm of typical grammar in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/4 "2022-07-11T22:42:18Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > But not the intransitive version. Right, I was speaking more generally. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/5 "2022-07-11T22:49:59Z")
I’d understand what was meant if someone said that to me, but I have never said that (I have “blown off” a lot of things, though). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/6 "2022-07-11T22:52:55Z")
Used in the being gone sense makes me think of 1930s gangsters. Sounds old-fashioned. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/7 "2022-07-11T23:00:47Z")
Jocularly, “Let’s blow this pop stand.” Considering that Billy Mack knows just exactly what the facts is, I agree that lyrics are not a good source of grammatical riles. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/8 "2022-07-11T23:16:22Z")
I dig that line (“Should I cool it or should I blow?”) because in addition to meaning “should I stay or should I go?”, it also implies “should I keep my shit together (stay calm) or should I act impulsively (blow up)”?. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/9 "2022-07-11T23:45:27Z")
'82 was just a bit after college for me. The phrase sounds perfectly current with those times to me. Not mainstream usage, but certainly common slang. I blew a lot of joints and pop stands in the few years both prior and subsequent. “Let’s blow!” launched a lot of minor road trips. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/10 "2022-07-11T23:52:26Z")
“Let’s make like the wind and blow”=let’s leave. You can also blow into town. But if you blew town, you left. AIUI those phrases drive foreign speakers crazy. Blow _up_=get angry, explode. Blow _out_=fail, like a tire; complete trouncing in sports. Blow _over_=resolve, get better. Blow _off_=release (blow off steam) or disregard. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/11 "2022-07-12T00:04:33Z")
Yup, those are called “phrasal verbs,” and they are much more difficult for English language learners to master than seemingly more advanced words that mean the same thing. A lot of my students found them fun, though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/12 "2022-07-12T00:06:42Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Jocularly, “Let’s blow this pop stand.” Yup – we used “Let’s blow this pop stand / popsicle stand” often when we were kids, decades ago, as slang for “let’s go.” ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/13 "2022-07-12T02:12:12Z")
I’ve said “let’s blow”, probably not that recently but somewhat. Hell, I’ve said “let’s book” maybe as often and who says that? I still say “drat” sometimes, which dates to the 19th century, but people still get the skinny. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/14 "2022-07-12T04:32:09Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Hell, I’ve said “let’s book I haven’t heard that for quite some time, however, I used to say it regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/15 "2022-07-12T14:21:30Z")
From the same time period: punting and ralphing. “Let’s go” was often “let’s beat feet”. And then there’s the iconic Valley-speak of “grody”, “gag me with a spoon”, and “totally tubular, man”. We used to say, “let’s blow this popsicle joint”, so there’s another variation for you. Some of these are hard to remember. Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/16 "2022-07-12T15:09:45Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yup – we used “Let’s blow this pop stand / popsicle stand” often when we were kids, decades ago, as slang for “let’s go.” I remember this from the 60s and 70s. Not commonly said, but everybody understood it. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/17 "2022-07-12T16:58:12Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > the iconic Valley-speak of “grody”, “gag me with a spoon”, and “totally tubular, man”. Those were was iconic in the sense that it was good parody. I don’t think I ever heard any of those used non-ironically. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qb21lsCQ3EM/hqdefault.jpg "Moon Zappa Valley Girl") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/18 "2022-07-12T17:18:37Z")
I have heard the first two used unironically. I still, occasionally, say that something is “grody”. I never understood what, if anything, “tubular” was supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/19 "2022-07-12T17:21:56Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I never understood what, if anything, “tubular” was supposed to mean. Doesn’t it just mean “really cool”? That’s how I’ve always understood, though I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered it in the wild. “Totally tubular, dude!” My guess is that it is supposed to refer to the “tube” of a really cool surfing wave, perhaps? At least that’s how I’ve always interpreted it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787/20 "2022-07-12T17:28:50Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Those were was iconic in the sense that it was good parody. I don’t think I ever heard any of those used non-ironically. I was working in L.A. during the Valley Girl time period. I had long time friends out there with a teenage daughter I has seen grow up since the age of 2. She had a pretty good handle on the situation. So according to my expert, most of these words and phrases passed through pretty quickly. Suddenly everybody at school would be describing things as “grody”, for a week, and next week it would be something else. Valley-speak wasn’t so much about the vocabulary as it wasabouttiming, or inflection?, or attitude. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blow-as-in-leave/967787.md?page=2)