Honeytrap aster glenn gray6/28/2023 ![]() ![]() This is a much more wholesome image than “joint,” since a pop stand would not be serving alcohol. “Let’s blow this joint” becomes “let’s blow this pop stand,” where “pop” means a sweet carbonated beverage.Ī pop stand is a soda fountain a soda fountain is a machine that mixes carbonated water and flavored syrup, but in the mid-20th century, it was also a name for the kind of establishment where you might find such a machine, like a diner or an ice cream parlor or a drugstore. ![]() It’s a much older word than I would have thought the OED’s first citation is from 1821. “Joint” is also chiefly US, and it means a gathering place, perhaps especially a place where you might do something illicit like drink or smoke opium. Or possibly in the case of “let’s blow this joint,” a sense of… explosions? I think as a kid, I heard this phrase and had no idea what it meant, so I understood “blow” as “blow up.” You would vacate a place pretty suddenly if it blew up. This expression is primarily used by US speakers and it originates in the 20th century as “let’s blow this joint.” The OED does list depart, leave, or vacate, especially suddenly, as meanings of “blow,” and it’s right after “blow in” meaning to arrive suddenly, so I guess there is a sense of being carried by the wind. Why does “blow” mean “leave”? Where are all these popsicle stands and why are people leaving them? ![]() Since I left Substack this week, I was thinking about expressions people use when they’re leaving a place, and I landed on “let’s blow this popsicle stand” as a particularly puzzling one. ![]()
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