"blow (one's own/someone else's) mind" (was: Re: lid, meth, etc. (1966))

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 05:39:50PM -0500, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>
> What's the earliest cite for the usual transitive sense (blowing *someone
> else's* mind)?  I don't have HDAS handy, but the earliest I've found is
> the LA Times cite above from Nov 2, 1965 (just a few months after "Do You
> Believe in Magic" was released).

That's the earliest for the sense 'to shock, surprise, stun, dazzle,
or amaze (someone); to frighten or panic (someone)'. HDAS's previous
earliest had been from Hunter S. Thompson's _Hell's Angels_ (1966).

Jesse Sheidlower
OED