Torched

[Barbara Need]

1b suggests a level of intenionality that wildfire does not have.

Barbara

Barbara Need
Etna, NY

On 6 Sep 2011, at 10:42 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> Got it.
>
> I don't see a big issue in applying 1b to a non-sentient actor like a
> wildfire, but what do I know.
>
> On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 9:56 AM, victor steinbok
> <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> ACK! I don't know what I meant there!
>>
>> I had to restart twice, as Gmail managed to erase the message
>> (despite the
>> automatic save) and stretched it over several hours, and, by the
>> time I got
>> to the end, I lost the train of thought.
>>
>> Of course, all those examples that immediately follow the OED
>> definition ARE
>> 1.b. I have no idea what I was thinking. It was the opposite that I
>> wanted
>> to look at--the mentions of "torched" where no agent was involved.
>>
>> Scrap that part! Just look at the two issues mentioned at the top--
>> first,
>> the "X homes torched" (or "Texas is being torched", as Jon pointed
>> out).
>> These do not fit the arson/burn lemma, nor do they fit any other
>> definition
>> provided.
>>
>> Second, look at the list of three other uses. Skip the crap in the
>> middle--I
>> have no idea why I added that. Early senility, I guess...
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 9:39 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Sorry, Victor, I am confused. You provide this:
>>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Then later you say:
>>>
>>> But no arson/incinerate meaning of "torch" is listed in the OED.
>>>
>>> What exactly do you believe 1b means such that it does NOT include
>>> arson??

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