[Ads-l] jiujitsu/jujitsu (tactics) (1990)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks to Jesse for sharing the excellent citation located by James
Landau. The OED entry for jiu-jitsu (ju-jitsu) presents a separate
listing for figurative citations. Their first citation in 1906 refers
to "intellectual jiu-jitsu".

[Begin excerpt from OED]
1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New xxix. 206   To lay him flat on his back
by a sort of intellectual jiu-jitsu.
[End excerpt from OED]

Below is a citation in January 1905 that contains the figurative
phrase "mental jiu-jitsu". Two long excerpts are shown because the
article refers to jiu-jitsu several times in interesting ways.

Date: January 5, 1905
Newspaper: The Baltimore Sun
Newspaper Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Article: Jiu-Jitsu for Uncle Sam's Sea Fighters
Quote Page 4, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
It is reported in Washington dispatches that our naval authorities are
considering the advisability of establishing another chair at the
Naval Academy at Annapolis--the chair of jiu-jitsu. As everybody knows
jiu-jitsu is mysterious Japanese method of attack, in which the small
man, who is proficient, makes a sorry spectacle of the big fellow who
is ignorant of the art.
. . .
The 12-inch guns of our warships make jiu-jitsu a rather unnecessary
accomplishment. An enemy can't get close enough in naval warfare to
work his will with hand and foot. So far as mental jiu-jitsu is
concerned the history of our navy shows that American sea-fighters
have nothing to learn from any nation--European or Oriental. Uncle
Sam's "man behind the gun" probably leads in the jiu-jitsu of accurate
shooting the marksmen of any navy against which he may direct his
guns.
[End excerpt]

Below is a comical filler item with "mental jiu-jitsu" that appeared
in several newspapers in January 1905.

Date: January 26, 1905
Newspaper: Chicago Tribune
Newspaper Location: Chicago, Illinois
Article: All's Fair, Etc. (Filler item)
Quote Page 6, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Esmeralda--"What did Gwendolen say about my getting Jack Harnsum away from her?"

Miss Tartun"--O. she admires your skill because you had so many
natural disadvantages to overcome. She says you practiced a kind of
mental jiu-jitsu on the poor fellow."   C.W.T.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 9:13 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>
> James Landau (JJJRLandau at netscape.com) was having difficulty posting this, so I'm forwarding on his behalf. Forgive the top-posting, but I wanted to ensure that it was obvious that it's his find:
>
> ---
> Eclectic Magazine  Vol. 147, No. 4  October, 1906
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=Hcc1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA370&dq=jiu+jitsu&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFgMutt-7iAhUpSN8KHTb6BZMQ6AEITDAG#v=onepage&q=jiu%20jitsu&f=false
>
> Page 370 column 1 "The wily Boers had been playing that little game known in the East as "Jiu Jitsu," which means to gain by yielding. Under the apparent guise of submission, not merely had they allayed all fears that England might have entertained, but craftily had been make vast perparations for defiance. England found herself almost completely checkmated, forced either to accept the terms of the Boers or to enter into a warfare which threatened to exhaust the feeble money sources of the country."
>
> ---
>
> On Sat, Jun 15, 2019 at 11:46:50AM -0700, Barretts Mail wrote:
> > Cloudflare (https://www.cloudflare.com/ <https://www.cloudflare.com/>), which provides various forms of protection for websites, has a webinar titled "Cloud-Jitsu: Migrating 23TB from AWS S3 to Backblaze B2 in 7 hours”.
> >
> > The OED has jujitsu/jiujitsu as a martial art.
> >
> > Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jujitsu#English <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jujitsu#English>) says it also means “Precision maneuvering”.
> >
> > 1. https://tinyurl.com/y5nk7ltx <https://tinyurl.com/y5nk7ltx>
> > West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer, p.257
> > Frank Rose
> > 1990 (first published 1989)
> >
> > ****
> > They called for “marketing jiujitsu” to turn IBM’s strengths into weaknesses while transforming Apple’s weaknesses into strengths.
> > ****
> > ****
> >
> > 2. Barry Popik is cited by JL (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2004-July/039534.html <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2004-July/039534.html>):
> >
> > THE FOOD MAVEN: Good Dog!
> > A Summer Taste Test
> > By Matthew Goodman
> > July 23, 2004
> >
> > ****
> > This prodigious bit of marketing jiujitsu took the kosher laws, which never had mattered to more than a very small segment of the population, and made them a selling point for the population at large.
> > ****
> > ****
> >
> > 3. https://articles.bplans.com/strategic-jujitsu-new-business-models-for-early-stage-entrepreneurs/ <https://articles.bplans.com/strategic-jujitsu-new-business-models-for-early-stage-entrepreneurs/>
> > Strategic Jujitsu: New Business Models for Early Stage Entrepreneurs
> > Ralph Welborn
> > Undated
> >
> > ****
> > Jujitsu is the martial art whereby you use your opponent’s strengths or your own (oft-perceived) weakness to your advantage.
> > ****
> > ****
> >
> > 4. https://www.articulatemarketing.com/blog/learn-from-your-competitors <https://www.articulatemarketing.com/blog/learn-from-your-competitors>
> > Business jujitsu: what you can learn from your competitors
> > Clare Dodd
> > Undated
> >
> > not mentioned outside of the title
> > ****
> > ****
> >
> > My thanks to Mark Mandel who kindly pointed out off-list how hard my emails are to read and for suggesting I change the punctuation separating citations. (Still experimenting but I think this is slightly better.)
> >
> > Benjamin Barrett
> > Formerly of Seattle, WA
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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