Phrase: Blowing someone off

Posted by John Bailey on June 14, 2000

In Reply to: Phrase: Blowing someone off posted by Bob on June 13, 2000

: : I posted this question two months ago and didn't get a response. It is not on the search the archives of the discussion group anymore either.

: : This is a phrase I hear more and more in public in America. I want to know how it meaning has totally changed in the last twenty years, when you couldn't say such a thing in public. I'm sick of hearing it.

: While public discourse has gotten immeasurably more vulgar, this particular phrase is not guilty. Think of blowing dust off a book, or blowing off a feather that lands on your shoulder. This is the sense of lightly getting rid of someone of no importance. Discarding a person not worthy of your attention. (Come to think of it, that IS vulgar.)

Thanks for the reply Bob. You're right of course, but I can't get used to thirteen year old girls saying it, especially my daughter. I was just getting used to "dumping someone", and you don't even want to analyze that one.