Torched

[Jonathan Lighter]

Just now CNN reported that "Texas is being torched!"

JL

On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 3:22 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Torched
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Two issues here--one related to a particular use of passive and one how
> "torch" verbs are covered in the OED.
>
> The fires in Texas have now claimed nearly 500 homes, with about the same
> number still in danger. But, for much of the afternoon, the top headline on
> Google News was
>
> Video: 300 Homes Torched in Texas Wildfire TIME
> >
>
>
> This was a bit of a head-scratcher. If "torched" is past tense, then what
> did those homes torch? And if it's a participle, then who is the agent of
> the torching? (Other headlines suggest "fire", but that sounds wrong).
>
> Clicking through at about 10 pm showed that Time actually corrected the
> headline.
>
>
> > WATCH: Bastrop Fire Torches 300 Homes in Central Texas
> >
> http://goo.gl/U5GnM
>
> This one certainly has no issues of the same type. But it has since been
> updated again.
>
> Video: 500 Homes Torched in Texas Wildfire
>
>
> A part of the problem is that "torch" is normally transitive, but there is
> =
> a
> bit more.
>
> OED torch v.1 (v.2 is unrelated, as is v.1 3.):
>
> 1. a. trans. To furnish, or light, with a torch or torches.(See torched
> > adj., and cf. torcher n.1 1.)
> >  b. To set alight, to set fire to, esp. in order to claim insurance
> money=
> .
> > slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
> > 2. intr. To flare like a torch; to rise like smoke from a torch. dial.
> >
>
> I suppose, there is a possibility that the Time editors resurrected an old
> regional version (2. only has one quotation and that's tagged 1847-78). But
> the meaning does not fit, and it's more likely that "House [has been]
> torched" for the editors implies the same thing it implies for me--someone
> had set it on fire (i.e., fire cannot be a self-agent). But no
> arson/incinerate meaning of "torch" is listed in the OED.
>
> http://goo.gl/QCp8E
>
> > Convictions upheld for Concord man who killed 2, torched them in car
> >
>
>  http://goo.gl/4B15c
>
> > Hazer: No, I'm not in Mitrovica... We've torched all the churches in
> > Prizren.
> > Muharem: Hell, torch them all!
> > Hazer: We've already torched them all, turn on the television so you can
> > see them burning!
> > Muharem: I just turned it on.
> > Hazer: They're showing Prizren right now... All the church have been
> > torched, not one is left.
> >
>
> http://goo.gl/87hPi   [NSFW]
>
> >  They should have torched them
> > Then you wouldn't have no bodies
>
>
> http://goo.gl/1mvJM  [Bonus: Mexghanistan]
>
> > Mexico: 2 dozen gunmen storm casino, torch it, kill at least 53
> >
>
>
> Torched adj. does not help:
>
> Furnished with a torch or torches; lighted with torches.
> >
>
> There is also one meaning of torch v. that's missing:
>
> Team A has torched Team B for X points/goals.
> >
>
> Or
>
> Player Y torched Team Z for X points/yards.
> >
>
> [Both US]
>
> If this doesn't ring any bells, here are a couple of examples:
>
> http://goo.gl/J1N3u  [football]
>
> > Idaho torched them [USC] for over 300 yards last week
> >
>
>  http://goo.gl/sFRgh  [football]
>
> > 0 bids because he torched them last game.
> >
>
> http://goo.gl/czbkz  [football]
>
> > Peyton and Company are going to Miami to torch Chicago's secondary in a
> > inferno not seen since Mrs. O'Leary's cow burned down half the city.
> >
>
> http://goo.gl/Uyrtt  [basketball]
>
> > P.S. Savanovic torched them!
> >
>
> http://goo.gl/e5RYq  [basketball]
>
> > J.J. Barea once again carved Miami up, sending the Heat=92s once
> formidab=
> le
> > defense scrambling every which way as he torched them for killer threes
> a=
> nd
> > backbreaking layups.
> >
>
> There are several other fairly recent uses of the verb.
>
> 1) using a utility or kitchen butane torch to caramelize, melt or singe the
> surface of food, e.g., cr=E8me br=FBl=E9e, novelty sushi, etc.
> 2) welding something (with a welding/acetylene torch)
> 3) generalized "destroy" (rare)
>
> Examples:
>
> (1)
> http://goo.gl/WAz6J   [See the whole article for more details]
>
> > "We add a little sake and soy sauce for flavor," he says, "then we torch
> > it."
>
>
> http://goo.gl/7x8BH  [Complete with pictures--but only has "blow torched"
> rather than "torched", but same idea]
>
> >  What would crystallize sugar?  *Heat!  *So Alejandro coated his sushi
> > with diluted soy sauce and rolled it in sugar... and then... ...he blow
> > torched it.
>
>
>  http://goo.gl/OLGNE
>
> > I put a little Saikyo Miso on top of Tofu, and torched.. a little Shiso
> a=
> nd
> > red chili pepper for extra flavor...
>
>
> (2)
> http://goo.gl/nNamk
>
> > Can I torch galvanized steel for jewelry - will the end melt to a ball -
> > thanks molly
> >
>
> (3)
> http://goo.gl/At52h
>
> > So, if J-schools are of only marginal value to the publications they
> > allegedly serve, why not torch Columbia and the other hundred-plus
> > degree-awarding journalism programs and have done with it?
> >
>
> http://goo.gl/xLv4C  [I'm actually not sure if it's (2) or (3)]
> Starter clutch bolt, please, before I torch it.
>
> > I replaced my starter clutch. Great. The bolt that goes through the
> cente=
> r
> > will not stay tight for sh1t. I over tightened it once, and have been
> try=
> ing
> > to get it right for several days. I don't remember there being a lock
> was=
> her
> > on it. The schematic doesn't show one. My manual has been used so much
> th=
> at
> > the pages I need are split off somewhere I can't find them . Help please.
> > Losing my head. Its a 93 KZ1000p. Thanks in advance.
>
>
> Interestingly, not all uses of the verb with food imply (2)--sometimes the
> butane torch is used to actually light up a morsel:
>
> http://goo.gl/HS7D7
>
> > Then [], he put a pieces of vanilla bean on a plate, torched them and
> > turned his cocktail glasses upside over it. The sides of glass became
> coa=
> ted
> > with burnt vanilla flavors.
> >
>
>
> The whole article needs an update.
>
> VS-)
>
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>



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