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Sergey
"They're gonna come here guns a-blazing" What is "a-blazing"?
Hello!
I've seen this sentence in a movie (in captions): "They're gonna come here guns a-blazing". I was wondering if "a-blazing" is just short for "all blazing"? Not the first time I see words with "a-" but can't remember any other examples.
Thank you!
15 de jul. de 2019 3:21
Respuestas · 5
3
"guns-a-blazing" is just saying "guns blazing" with a heavy and old fashioned Tennessee accent. Take this scene from Sargent York for example...
https://youtu.be/N7lzNAj_hcY?t=3675
This Tennessee accent adds "a" to the front of many words.
"was-a-figurin"
"ain't nobody-a-holdin ya"
"Nate was-a-thinkin"
"I'm-a-askin' you for the job"
"I was-a-buyin' that land just to spite you"
15 de julio de 2019
3
It originated from "guns all blazing", but it's idiomatic meaning is a little different.
When you say 'guns a-blazing' you are injecting a little humour (rightly or wrongly) or sarcasm into a situation where guns are being fired almost comicly in a repeated,noisy, and somewhat haphazard (not accurate) fashion - Similar to a western movie where a gunslinger comes out and fires repeatedly and noisily at someone in the street.
If you said 'guns all blazing' there is no obvious injection of humor. So while 'guns a-blazing' has it's origins in 'guns all blazing' the expressions say different things.
15 de julio de 2019
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Sergey
Competencias lingüísticas
Inglés, Ruso
Idioma de aprendizaje
Inglés
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