The Two Most Dismissive Words on the Internet

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The first things that could “go off” were weapons. Starting in the 16th century, to meant to explode in a decisive spurt of energy. Even as the more literal meaning of “to depart physically, to wander” followed close behind, the phrase retained the sudden dramatic is up there with as one of the most versatile and abstract verbs in the English language. It takes up about 45 columns of tiny print in the unabridged OED, and can mean anything from “begin” ( “Ready, set, go!”) to “leave” (“My hearing’s going.”) to “speak” (“So I go, ...”) to “price” (“How much does this go for?”) to “urinate” (“I gotta go … bad!”). What joins the various semantic contortions of the syllable is the energy of state-change. To is to proceed, to move, to evolve. It’s the opposite of its monosyllabic cousin , though each distills the essence of verbal action into one nuclear two-letter form. At any given moment, you’re either being or you’re going—chilling or making stuff happen. Try to do both and you may tear a muscle.