Talk:pop

I think there is translation field in the wrong place. — Hippietrail 09:59, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

'As in frozen confection'

There is no entry for the use (largely American, I think, but not sure), of calling anything frozen and impaled on a stick a 'pop'. I think it's a dumb habit, but I also think lots of things Americans do are dumb, like leaving the u's out of words.

I've just added this sense. --Overlordnat1 (talk) 23:57, 16 April 2023 (UTC)

RFV discussion: November 2016–May 2017

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification (permalink).

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pop

Rfv-sense: "To act suddenly, unexpectedly or quickly." User:Mihia pointed out (at WT:TR#pop) that it has no usage examples, let alone citations and doesn't appear distinct from other definitions. I think definition 14 is particularly close. DCDuring TALK 02:26, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

I haven't checked the entry history but I also suspect this was a vague attempt at #14. Equinox ◑ 02:56, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Possibly, but then #14 may be too narrow for "He popped over for a cuppa" or "a pop from the engine and our holiday travels were over." - Amgine/ ^t·e 01:09, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, popping over for a cuppa is #14 (moving suddenly): even if it's not a physically sudden movement, that's the sense of the word that is intended, right? I don't know what you mean by "a pop from the engine" but that can't be a verb; the verb is challenged here. Equinox ◑ 03:21, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

after e/c:

Definition 5, "(intransitive, Britain, often with over, round, along, etc.) To make a short trip or visit." <I'm just popping round to the newsagent.> would seem to cover your first example.

It makes me cringe but "pop to the loo" (i.e. briefly visit the toilet) is moderately common. The verb can be replaced with various other verbs suggesting rapid motion, like "whizz" or "nip". Equinox ◑ 03:30, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

As to the second example, I don't understand what the use of pop as a noun has to do directly with the rfv of a verb definition. DCDuring TALK 03:23, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

To pop, to hiccup/hiccough, to misfire. - Amgine/ ^t·e 06:09, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

@Amgine: Thanks. Is it applicable to all things misfire is applicable to, eg, firearms, artillery, detonators, attempts ("The plan misfired.")? DCDuring TALK 15:02, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

I would doubt it; there are not many things which are universal. Mostly I find #14 unnecessarily narrow and limiting; what it covers are described under #3. - Amgine/ ^t·e 21:54, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

That would make it seem like one of the senses of backfire, rather than misfire. DCDuring TALK 22:15, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

Again an instance of over-precision: all backfires (sense #2, of an engine) are misfires. To be precise, to fire at any point other than TDC of a standard cylinder ICE. - Amgine/ ^t·e 22:35, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

• Since that sense has not been shown to be distinct, I have removed it, and moved former #14 up into its place. Mihia (talk) 18:52, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

RFV-resolved Kiwima (talk) 22:04, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

this is one of my favorite words

both because of its sound and because of its flexible meaning. I found a restaurant storefront just now saying "did you like this item? Pop it!" where pop means to rate it positively on the storefront's ratings page, without necessarily typing out a review. thus a cover term for ❤️, 👍, and a calendar-like symbol that means "remind me to try this".

I suspect that the restaurant is sharing their storefront software with many, perhaps thousands, of other restaurants and other businesses too.

I would like to add this meaning to the entry, perhaps under sense 3, and will try to find the origin of this software if I can. It brings me to say, though, that one of the reasons I like this word so much is that it can really mean almost anything, as the listener knows from context what is meant. This works for the verb ("hey you can pop me a soda?") and the noun ("i got a pop of fresh air just now"). And the restaurant software also uses it as a noun ("21 pops") etc. If I could, I'd add a separate sense to the entry, something like:

(emphatic) Anything the listener understands.

But I suspect that wouldn't be taken seriously as a real definition. It occurred to me just now that perhaps pop in the storefront's UI is short for popularize, but i doubt it. Even if it were, i'd say so much w:semantic bleaching has taken place with pop that it can mean almost any pleasurable thing, verb or noun. Similar perhaps to bit, but more emotionally positive, and also more flexible. —Soap— 05:56, 31 October 2023 (UTC)