"Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program"

[Jonathan Lighter]

A navy veteran told me in the late '60s that the saying he'd learned in WWII was, "If it moves, salute it. If it doesn't move, pick it up. If you can't pick it up, paint. it."

Other military sayings of the WWII era (which I heard in the '60s) were, "It's always hurry up and wait," "Never volunteer," "Keep your mouth shut and your bowels open," and "If you're looking for sympathy, it's in the dictionary between 'shit and 'syphilis.'"

The First World War had "The first forty years are the hardest" and "Cheer up, the worst is yet to come."

I also associate "Another day, another dollar" with WWI, but am not certain about it.

JL
"James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "James A. Landau"
Subject: Re: "Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program"
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In a message dated Thu, 19 Aug 2004 21:18:01 -0400, LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
[pseudonym for Barry Popik] quotes:


"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it
> moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving,
> subsidize it." - Ronald Reagan.

This is a variation of an old military saying: "If it moves, salute it. If
it doesn't move, paint it."

I heard this saying in 1970 from an Army colonel who was discussing an
incident during World War II in which an officer was relieved of his command for
having been too much of a martinet. (There's hope for the Army.)

The Roman legions probably had a similar saying.

- James A. Landau


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