WOTY Candidate: The terrorists have already won

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:13 PM -0500 11/21/01, Grant Barrett wrote:
>I'd like to nominate a phrase for Word of the year: "The terrorists will
>have already won" or one of the variations.
>
>It's already so used it has ventured into the realm of cliché, as disussed
>in The Columbus Dispatch, October 18, 2001: "And this is the point: How many
>times have you heard that if America doesn't do x or if it does do y, "the
>terrorists will have won"? Perhaps it's time that we went about our daily
>business again without relying on this shopworn phrase. Because if we don't
>go about our daily business, the Durham, N.C., Herald Sun warned, the
>terrorists will have won."
>
>It was used with irony today in a Village Voice cartoon that I can't seem to
>find online. Also, there's this nice send-up from The Onion:
>
>"If I Don't Get My Medium-Rare Shell Steak With Roasted Vegetables In The
>Next 10 Minutes, The Terrorists Have Already Won"
>http://www.theonion.com/onion3740/if_i_dont_get_my.html
>
Or the recent New Yorker cartoon (11/12/01, p. 98) of the guy
explaining to his drinking buddy "I figure if I don't have that third
martini, then the terrorists win."

larry