One of my slang dictionaries shows “blow one up” to mean light a cigarette. He has a cigar in his hand in panel three. I don’t think this explanation is highly likely, but it’s possible.
BTW, one of my other slang dictionaries traces BLT (as slang) back to 1952. I know we were discussing that somewhere recently, but I forget which thread.
Nowadays, “it blew up” means “it suddenly gained popularity”. And I suppose that occurs transitively as well, tho I don’t recall actually hearing it that way. (I mean “they blew it up” for “they promoted it very successfully”.)
But that is too recent to explain this comic.
Anyway, interesting decision by the driver to take him to the asylum and not the police.
My analysis as an archeologist interpreting a lost text of a bygone culture:
The final panel is a rim shot. Jeff just did something illogical and silly so to emphasize it’s silliness we are led to be believe the cabby believed Jeff was insane and needed to be dropped in an asylum. This was common in strips of the day. “Banana Oil” did something similar in that the protagonist seeing something silly would react by running desperately back to an asylum and demanding to be recommitted. Frequently.
Now, as to what the silly and illogical thing Jeff did…. I have no freaking idea. I think it might something like “No game; great the lines to the peanuts won’t be so long” (similar to “I know I lost my car keys in the other room but they light is better here”) or something but… What can I say? I’m an archeologist and it’s a bygone culture.
Wasn’t Jeff supposed to be an escaped lunatic in the beginning of the strip anyway?
….
I’ll add the observation that a lot of Mutt and Jeff strips read like a couple of ancient gags strung together — value for money, I guess.
I’d never heard “blow it up” in a context like this mean anything other than “destroy it,” so I think the cabbie naturally thought Jeff was a lunatic.
When I saw the heading, I thought of the movie, then realized THAT was REALLY off-base.
Soon to be a David Lynch movie
@beckoningchasm I agree the meaning of “blow it up” here has to be literal, destroy it by explosion — I mentioned a more recent meaning, and enjoyed reading senses others have offered, but that doesn’t change the evident sense in the comic.
However, I don’t go along with your interpretation “so I think the cabbie naturally thought Jeff was a lunatic.” Seems to me, at least today, a cabbie hearing that would conclude he was a terrorist, and head for the police. (Maybe the term back then would have been “anarchist”?)
@Mitch4 – yes, your interpretation is equally valid. I was thinking “lunatic” because since there’s no game today, the place would be empty and thus no casualties. Terrorists prefer lots of casualties, so the purpose of blowing it up would just be for the sake of destruction.
There’s also the fact that Jeff is announcing his intent up front, which terrorists are unlikely to do.
“so I think the cabbie naturally thought Jeff was a lunatic.”
But then the question becomes doesn’t this mean that the cabbie was correct and Jeff is a lunatic. In which case, what’s the joke?
But… I’m willing to believe “blow it up” may have been slang of the day and maybe meant something like “paint the town” or “have a blast”. But I’m not seeing what his joke of going to the stadium when there is no game is supposed to be.
And Blow it Up in this case Jeff is telling the cabbie to go fast.
Cabbie takes it to mean Jeff is insane and wants to cause harm.
“Blow it up” was probably at some point young people’s slang, but eventually became old person slang (you know, like “23 Skidoo!”).
So here Jeff is trying to be hip and connect with the youngster by using slang, but he doesn’t realize his slang is outdated and thus misunderstood. Hilarity ensues!
The whole strip seems odd. The taxi driver responds “Yes it’s hot” even though Jeff didn’t say anything about it being hot. The request to go to the “suburbs” seems random and vague. And then it just gets more nonsensical from there.
“I agree the meaning of ‘blow it up’ here has to be literal, destroy it by explosion”
I would counter that the literal definition of “blow it up” is to inflate with air, as with a balloon.
I had similar thoughts to James Pollock, especially in reference to beckoningchasm say that what else could it mean.
“The whole strip seems odd.”
Yes, but no more so then any other dialog of a bygone era that doesn’t make sense.
“The taxi driver responds “Yes it’s hot” even though Jeff didn’t say anything about it being hot.”
1) Jeff referred to the Spring Air making him wish to do something special. Before air conditioning people would want to get out and away from plaes if it got hot. That could be what the spring air means.
2) Or “Hey, taxi!” implies “Or you taking fares” and “It’s hot” is cabbie slang for “Yes, I’m on the meter and ready to go”. I actually doubt it but it’s a bygone era and I don’t know the language well.
“The request to go to the “suburbs” seems random and vague.”
Pre WWII and imediately after, suburbs would have refered to specific districts of low density regions withing commutable rail lines and not the sprawl and pervasive surrounding on all corners they are now.
“And then it just gets more nonsensical from there.”
The cabby’s response in panel 2 and panel 3 make perfect sense.
Panel 4: I just don’t get at all. I don’t understand Jeff’s reasoning or why it’s a joke. I assume “blow it up” is like “step on it” i.e. make it fast but… I don’t know. I don’t understand the cabbies response. But I figure that Jeff is being weird and outside the norm and the cabby is finding it startling. I can understand that is vague idea but I feel I am utterly missing the significance of the fractured logic of Jeff’s reasoning (I assume there is some).
As for the 5th panel, I still surmise this is a rimshot 20s era cartoon reaction to fractured logic. Comics and cartoons frequently had these over reactions. Frequently characters would get frustrated or startled by something exacerbating or strange …. and they’d respond by attempting to commit suicide. Mutt and Jeff frequently had the cartoonist in the cartoon unable to please the conflicting demands of the readers saying “I give up” and tying a gaspipe to his mouth and sucking it (that’s.. funny???). The strip “Banana Oil” always ended with an escaped lunatic seeing an outsider doing something illogical and the lunatic pounding on the asylum doors demanding to be recommited. And the cartoon “Horton Hatches an Egg” (okay one or two decades later) feature fishes shooting themselves in the head simply because seeing an elephant in tree was so strange they felt they couldn’t go on living (yeah,… that’s a reasonable reaction).
So, yes, it’s weird but…. it was a different narrative style then.
Hmm, is it the mention of … self-inflicted death that put my last comment in moderation? or simply the length? Or something else?
@woozy: “The strip “Banana Oil” always ended with an escaped lunatic seeing an outsider doing something illogical and the lunatic pounding on the asylum doors demanding to be recommited.”
Comics I Don't Understand 
One of my slang dictionaries shows “blow one up” to mean light a cigarette. He has a cigar in his hand in panel three. I don’t think this explanation is highly likely, but it’s possible.
BTW, one of my other slang dictionaries traces BLT (as slang) back to 1952. I know we were discussing that somewhere recently, but I forget which thread.
Nowadays, “it blew up” means “it suddenly gained popularity”. And I suppose that occurs transitively as well, tho I don’t recall actually hearing it that way. (I mean “they blew it up” for “they promoted it very successfully”.)
But that is too recent to explain this comic.
Anyway, interesting decision by the driver to take him to the asylum and not the police.
My analysis as an archeologist interpreting a lost text of a bygone culture:
The final panel is a rim shot. Jeff just did something illogical and silly so to emphasize it’s silliness we are led to be believe the cabby believed Jeff was insane and needed to be dropped in an asylum. This was common in strips of the day. “Banana Oil” did something similar in that the protagonist seeing something silly would react by running desperately back to an asylum and demanding to be recommitted. Frequently.
Now, as to what the silly and illogical thing Jeff did…. I have no freaking idea. I think it might something like “No game; great the lines to the peanuts won’t be so long” (similar to “I know I lost my car keys in the other room but they light is better here”) or something but… What can I say? I’m an archeologist and it’s a bygone culture.
Wasn’t Jeff supposed to be an escaped lunatic in the beginning of the strip anyway?
….
I’ll add the observation that a lot of Mutt and Jeff strips read like a couple of ancient gags strung together — value for money, I guess.
I’d never heard “blow it up” in a context like this mean anything other than “destroy it,” so I think the cabbie naturally thought Jeff was a lunatic.
When I saw the heading, I thought of the movie, then realized THAT was REALLY off-base.
Soon to be a David Lynch movie
@beckoningchasm I agree the meaning of “blow it up” here has to be literal, destroy it by explosion — I mentioned a more recent meaning, and enjoyed reading senses others have offered, but that doesn’t change the evident sense in the comic.
However, I don’t go along with your interpretation “so I think the cabbie naturally thought Jeff was a lunatic.” Seems to me, at least today, a cabbie hearing that would conclude he was a terrorist, and head for the police. (Maybe the term back then would have been “anarchist”?)
Already done, in 1966, by Michelangelo Antonioni.
I remember it ’cause I actually went to see it, but remember nothing ABOUT it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060176/
@Mitch4 – yes, your interpretation is equally valid. I was thinking “lunatic” because since there’s no game today, the place would be empty and thus no casualties. Terrorists prefer lots of casualties, so the purpose of blowing it up would just be for the sake of destruction.
There’s also the fact that Jeff is announcing his intent up front, which terrorists are unlikely to do.
“so I think the cabbie naturally thought Jeff was a lunatic.”
But then the question becomes doesn’t this mean that the cabbie was correct and Jeff is a lunatic. In which case, what’s the joke?
But… I’m willing to believe “blow it up” may have been slang of the day and maybe meant something like “paint the town” or “have a blast”. But I’m not seeing what his joke of going to the stadium when there is no game is supposed to be.
And Blow it Up in this case Jeff is telling the cabbie to go fast.
Cabbie takes it to mean Jeff is insane and wants to cause harm.
“Blow it up” was probably at some point young people’s slang, but eventually became old person slang (you know, like “23 Skidoo!”).
So here Jeff is trying to be hip and connect with the youngster by using slang, but he doesn’t realize his slang is outdated and thus misunderstood. Hilarity ensues!
The whole strip seems odd. The taxi driver responds “Yes it’s hot” even though Jeff didn’t say anything about it being hot. The request to go to the “suburbs” seems random and vague. And then it just gets more nonsensical from there.
“I agree the meaning of ‘blow it up’ here has to be literal, destroy it by explosion”
I would counter that the literal definition of “blow it up” is to inflate with air, as with a balloon.
I had similar thoughts to James Pollock, especially in reference to beckoningchasm say that what else could it mean.
“The whole strip seems odd.”
Yes, but no more so then any other dialog of a bygone era that doesn’t make sense.
“The taxi driver responds “Yes it’s hot” even though Jeff didn’t say anything about it being hot.”
1) Jeff referred to the Spring Air making him wish to do something special. Before air conditioning people would want to get out and away from plaes if it got hot. That could be what the spring air means.
2) Or “Hey, taxi!” implies “Or you taking fares” and “It’s hot” is cabbie slang for “Yes, I’m on the meter and ready to go”. I actually doubt it but it’s a bygone era and I don’t know the language well.
“The request to go to the “suburbs” seems random and vague.”
Pre WWII and imediately after, suburbs would have refered to specific districts of low density regions withing commutable rail lines and not the sprawl and pervasive surrounding on all corners they are now.
“And then it just gets more nonsensical from there.”
The cabby’s response in panel 2 and panel 3 make perfect sense.
Panel 4: I just don’t get at all. I don’t understand Jeff’s reasoning or why it’s a joke. I assume “blow it up” is like “step on it” i.e. make it fast but… I don’t know. I don’t understand the cabbies response. But I figure that Jeff is being weird and outside the norm and the cabby is finding it startling. I can understand that is vague idea but I feel I am utterly missing the significance of the fractured logic of Jeff’s reasoning (I assume there is some).
As for the 5th panel, I still surmise this is a rimshot 20s era cartoon reaction to fractured logic. Comics and cartoons frequently had these over reactions. Frequently characters would get frustrated or startled by something exacerbating or strange …. and they’d respond by attempting to commit suicide. Mutt and Jeff frequently had the cartoonist in the cartoon unable to please the conflicting demands of the readers saying “I give up” and tying a gaspipe to his mouth and sucking it (that’s.. funny???). The strip “Banana Oil” always ended with an escaped lunatic seeing an outsider doing something illogical and the lunatic pounding on the asylum doors demanding to be recommited. And the cartoon “Horton Hatches an Egg” (okay one or two decades later) feature fishes shooting themselves in the head simply because seeing an elephant in tree was so strange they felt they couldn’t go on living (yeah,… that’s a reasonable reaction).
So, yes, it’s weird but…. it was a different narrative style then.
Hmm, is it the mention of … self-inflicted death that put my last comment in moderation? or simply the length? Or something else?
@woozy: “The strip “Banana Oil” always ended with an escaped lunatic seeing an outsider doing something illogical and the lunatic pounding on the asylum doors demanding to be recommited.”
I think you’re recalling a different Milt Gross strip, “Count Screwloose from Tooloose”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Screwloose
Shrug… You are right. (I was going by memory). The wikipedia page is not that informative but a google search was.
Hmmm, somehow I never realized those were the same cartoonist as “Nize Baby”.