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Reader question: Please explain “a blow-by-blow account of a debate on the House Floor”. What does “blow-by-blow” mean? My comments: This is a description of a fist fight between United States Congressmen when they argue over important issues on the House Floor – floor, as in dance floor, is where the action happens. I’m kidding. No, not all Congressional debates come to blows. Not all of them at any rate. But anyway, “blow” is the word for a hit or strike on your opponent using your fist. If you hit him hard, you’ve struck a blow, as they say. Blow by blow, therefore, means hit after hit, one strike after another. Blow by blow, you see, is a term originating in the game of boxing, in which two players or fighters as they’re called exchange blows until one of them ends up on the floor or canvas, unable to get up. If no-one can knock the other out, as they say, then the boxer who’s deemed to have landed the hardest or a greater number of blows wins the contest. A blow-by-blow account of a boxing match is, therefore, a detailed description of what happened on the canvas or in the ring, as pros say. In other words, every hit (or miss, for that matter) is recorded. All you need is tune in to a live boxing match and you’ll understand all about it. Usually there’re two announcers reporting on the match. One, who seems to be talking all the time, is the blow-by-blow announcer. His job is to describe the match in minute detail, that is, blow by blow or play by play as it is called in other sports such as basketball. Every play, or action, is described, nothing missing. | 
