It 'went on fire'

[lovemyaussie]

Grrrrrr.....

This is driving me mad. Surely the correct terminology is 'my oven caught fire.' Or, 'my oven is on fire.' ???

Everywhere I am seeing things go on fire, set on fire and went on fire. And I cannot stand it.

Rant over!

If the oven was deliberately set on fire, you wouldn’t say it caught on fire. Set on fire has a place. The car was set on fire and it continued to burn for three hours. I set fire to the pile of sticks and warmed my hands.

The others, I agree with.

@PurpleDaisies Oh yes, I completely agree. 'I set the car on fire' is fine. 'The car set on fire', nope. 'The car was set on fire', yes.

‘Went on fire’ is a term that’s often used when empty or listed buildings can’t be demolished, but someone wants to redevelop the land and there’s a ‘mysterious’ and convenient fire. It implies arson without implicitly saying that.

In Wales we more commonly say “it went on fire” rather than caught fire, because that is the literal translation from the Welsh.

@DismantledKing

‘Went on fire’ is a term that’s often used when empty or listed buildings can’t be demolished, but someone wants to redevelop the land and there’s a ‘mysterious’ and convenient fire. It implies arson without implicitly saying that.

Gah! I meant ‘explicitly’.

Yep, I'd agree it's common usage in Wales. Never knew why, so ta for that. 🙂