go
ɡoʊ
Even milk goes — why spoiling is a kind of leaving
The picture You peel yourself off this spot and move away from it. Not only people leave — a condition can slide away from where it started too. GO moves away from where we are; COME moves toward it.
Where the picture shows up in go
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leave this spot
I have to go now.
aɪ hæv tuː ɡoʊ naʊ
I should be off now.
Getting up from where you were sitting and moving out through the door.
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the route runs out there
Does this bus go to the airport?
dʌz ðɪs bʌs ɡoʊ tuː ði ˈerpɔːrt
Does this bus reach the airport?
A bus route stretching out from this stop all the way to the airport.
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slide away from fine
The milk has gone bad.
ðə mɪlk hæz ɡɔːn bæd
The milk has turned.
White milk drifting further and further from the state it started in.
go + a state usually means sliding away from the good starting point, so it leans negative.
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the way it rolled
How did the interview go?
haʊ dɪd ði ˈɪntərvjuː ɡoʊ
How was the interview?
Following the interview to see which way it rolled after it left your hands.
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head to its own place
This box goes in the back room.
ðɪs bɑːks ɡoʊz ɪn ðə bæk ruːm
This box belongs in the back room.
A box finding its own slot and settling into the back room.
The box doesn't walk — its proper place is back there.
All of it in one picture
go is an arrow leading away from where we are. When your body moves away, you are leaving; when a road stretches away to somewhere, that is where the bus goes. When milk drifts away from how it should be, it has gone bad; when you ask which way an interview rolled, you are asking how it went; and when a box travels to its own slot, that is where it goes. Under every go is the same feeling of coming loose from here and heading over there.