don’t blow it (before the fact) or you blew it (after the fact) are expressions that indicate failing to take advantage of an opportunity.
i was really jazzed to find this clip from copland on youtube. it is always the first example of you blew it that comes to mind when it comes up in class. sylvester stallone is a cop in a small town in new jersey, and robert deniro is an internal affairs cop for the nypd who asks stallone for info about corrupt activity by new york city cops who live in his town. stallone is slow to provide the information.
will ferrell exploring the studio space
at this link you can see one of my favorite saturday night live sketches: a mockumentary about music producer bruce dickinson (christopher walken) recording the blue oyster cult song don’t fear the reaper. the band has some creative differences, and around 3:45 in the video one of them shouts “don’t blow this for us, gene” at the cowbell player (will ferrell)
don’t fear the reaper
the grim reaper is the image of death that comes to collect the soul of a human who is about to die.
Richi, I have looked up ‘to jazz’ – failed to find the appropriate for this context meaning. what do you mean by ‘I was jazzed’?
‘Grim Reaper’ was new for me.
Great post.
it’s actually to be jazzed or just jazzed as an adjective. it means excited.
there is also a phrasal verb to jazz up which means to make something cooler.
both sound a little outdated. today informal expressions that are more common could be “psyched” for the former and “pimp out” for the latter.
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