"The enemy [always/also] has a vote."

[Baker, John]

The sentiment, of course, is much older.  I am reminded of the remark attributed to Gen. George Pickett, when asked after the Civil War why Pickett's Charge was unsuccessful, "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."  Not in YBQ.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 9:37 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "The enemy [always/also] has a vote."

According to GB, it even appears in the 2005 _Firefighter's Handbook on
Wildland Firefighting_, where wildfire is "the enemy."

JL

On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "The enemy [always/also] has a vote."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Mot on YBQ or DMP, this  military maxim observes that the enemy's decisions
> and actions can (and will) throw various-sized monkey-wrenches into the
> best-laid strategic and tactical plans
>
> Clausewitz , among other, also realized this, but he wasn't quite as adept
> with a quip.
>
> The earliest GB snippet is very early, but ref. to the "War Production
> Board" places it in the right time frame:
>
> 1943 _Army Ordnance_ XXIV 511: The enemy has a vote on where, when, and how
> we fight.
>
> After that, nothing till this:
>
> 2002 [U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations] _Afghanistan: Building
> Stability, Avoiding Chaos_ (Washington, D.C.: USGPO) 50 [GB: not
> verified]:=
>  In
> Afghanistan's case this is a long run. The enemy has a vote on when victory
> is decisive. We are not fighting a nation state; in this case, the enemy is
> a terrorist organization =97 who decides on surrender? Who decides they are
> defeated?
>
> Since then, 429,000 raw Google hits.
>
> JL
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org