jumping

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/29/2008 10:36 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>At 10:13 AM -0500 2/29/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>At 2/29/2008 09:54 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>... For me, "What are you jumping on me for?" is as unexceptional as
>>>"...jumping all over..."  No implication that anyone's bones are
>>>being jumped (even in contexts lacking the incest angle).
>>
>>In most contexts I would take "jump on" similarly, as "To pounce
>>upon, come down upon with violence or unawares."
>
>Actually, in the uses I'm familiar with, there's no physical violence
>involved, the attack in question being emotional, psychological, or
>intellectual, often amounting to garden-variety criticism--"A number
>of respondents jumped on Smith for unfounded theoretical assumptions,
>logical inconsistencies, and empirical errors".

Yes.  I didn't notice the OED2 intransitive ("jump upon") sense.

Joel

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