Blow-dried

Collins Dictionary gives blow-dried as the past tense of the verb 'to blow-dry'. That's fine; I can accept sentences such as 'He blow-dried my hair' or 'She looks as if her hair has been blow-dried'. I have a problem when 'hair' is replaced by 'it'. With phrasal verbs (yes, I know 'blow-dry' isn't a phrasal verb, but it strikes me as being similar), 'it' usually comes between the two parts of the verb:

I put up my hair in a bun, but ... I put it up in a bun

I picked up my dry cleaning, but ... I picked it up

I put on my hat, but ... I put it on

I was talking to my daughter about blow-drying my hair (frivolous creatures that we are!) and had to think for a moment; 'I blow-dried it' didn't sound right; I felt 'I blew it dry' sounded better. That, however, contradicts Collins' and the OED's version of the past tense. It also means that I had converted a hyphenated word into two distinct words to form the past tense. I stand by my version however (funnily enough, I'd never say "I stand it by"; in this instance "I stand by it" sounds perfectly ok to me). 'I froze them dry' sounds odd, too, as a replacement for 'I freeze-dried the vegetables'.

On the subject of the verb 'blow', whose past tense is 'blew' ... the unusual past tense form 'blowed' is used in certain expressions eg Well, I'll be blowed!, which is an expression of suprise, and 'I'm blowed if ...(I can find ...)', which means 'I just can't (find)'.

Comments

[j]

I blew it dry makes you sound like a contortionist able to blow (from mouth) onto the back of your head - I blow-dried it is "normal" usage. Perhaps mum, auntie or grandma in your family bowdlerised in the past - which explains why a hairdryer to my mother will always be a hydrangea - plant obsessed grandma - daughters names : rose, heather, margheurite!
j

[susan]

On such a respectable website as this, I can hardly bring myself to mention my mother's faux-pas a few years back. I will though because it was very funny when she asked the hairdresser to do a 'blow job' on her hair! As my mother was in her late 80's at the time, I am pretty certain that she simply wanted her hair blow-dried. However, one can never really be sure of anything in this life. My mother has always been a feisty character!