[Ads-l] rout = 'stunning victory'

[Jonathan Lighter]

Right-thinking persons know that a "rout" is a defeat accompanied by
headlong flight.

Not so Bruce McCall in the July 31 _New Yorker_, p. 27.  The full context
is necessary:

"Canada's dangerously overblown reputation for fair play can be traced back
to Flanders, 1914, after the Second Battle of Chumps. A [Canadian]
scout...found the German battle plan while ransacking the pockets of an
Oberleutnant's discarded greatcoat. Clearly mislaid and definitely the
property of the German Army, the battle plan was returned to the enemy line
by carrier pigeon, along with an explanatory note. The subsequent Third
Battle of Chumps was a German rout, celebrated every November 12 in Canada
as a smashing victory of fair play."

JL



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

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