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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Alarms #27703 04/30/01 11:03 AM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,156 B Bean OP old hand OP Bean old hand B Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,156 This may be a YART, but I got too many hits on the word "alarm" to figure that out. My Turkish friend and I were talking the other day about smoke detectors... Why does a fire alarm "go off", meaning that it begins to sing? And when it stops singing, what do you use to indicate that? It doesn't "go off"; I would probably say "It stopped". Does this have something to do with the way alarms originally worked? We also say "I set off the fire alarm". (Or the burglar alarm.) Why, oh why? Are there other situations where a "backward" verb is used like this? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Alarms Bean 04/30/01 11:03 AM Re: Alarms wwh 04/30/01 12:58 PM Re: Alarms Geoff 04/30/01 01:07 PM Re: Alarms Jackie 04/30/01 01:22 PM Re: Alarms Bean 04/30/01 02:29 PM Re: Alarms Anonymous 04/30/01 02:37 PM Re: Alarms rodward 04/30/01 03:08 PM Re: Alarms of troy 04/30/01 03:18 PM Re: Alarms rodward 04/30/01 03:37 PM Re: Alarms Hyla 04/30/01 03:19 PM Re: Alarms rodward 04/30/01 03:30 PM Re: Alarms wwh 04/30/01 07:38 PM Re: Alarms wow 05/01/01 07:16 PM Re: Alarms Anonymous 05/01/01 07:44 PM Re: Cop talk wow 05/01/01 08:13 PM Re: Cop talk Sparteye 05/02/01 02:25 PM Re: Cop talk Bobyoungbalt 05/02/01 03:56 PM Re: The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton Faldage 05/02/01 04:17 PM Re: Cop talk Bingley 05/03/01 06:49 AM Re: Cop talk Flatlander 05/03/01 05:19 PM Re: Cop talk Bingley 05/07/01 12:09 PM Re: Cop talk of troy 05/07/01 02:32 PM Re: Cop talk wwh 05/07/01 03:49 PM Re: Cop talk Max Quordlepleen 05/07/01 07:02 PM Re: Cop talk of troy 05/07/01 07:29 PM Re: Cop talk Max Quordlepleen 05/07/01 11:58 PM Re: Cop talk rodward 05/08/01 08:57 AM Re: Cop talk Bingley 05/08/01 10:29 AM Re: Cop talk Max Quordlepleen 05/08/01 07:54 PM Re: Cop talk Capital Kiwi 05/09/01 09:32 AM Re: Alarms AnnaStrophic 05/03/01 09:16 PM Burgling Bean 04/30/01 05:26 PM Re: Alarms wwh 04/30/01 03:34 PM Re: Alarms Anonymous 04/30/01 03:38 PM Re: Alarms Geoff 05/08/01 12:16 PM Re: Alarms wsieber 05/07/01 02:14 PM Re: Alarms Bean 05/07/01 05:42 PM Re: Alarms : Off and On wow 04/30/01 01:36 PM Re: Alarms belMarduk 04/30/01 07:10 PM Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Flat Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,915 Posts230,011 Members9,198 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members testawad, Bill_L, achz, MAGNVSTALSMA, Burlyfish 9,198 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 781 guests, and 8 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 29 A C Bowden 13 LukeJavan8 4 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 10,968 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,957 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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