Bring It On!

[Grant Barrett]

There's a journalist in Toronto who has been given the unfortunate
assignment of tracking down the roots of Bush's "bring 'em on," or
Kerry's "bring it on." Basically, he's trying to get to the bottom of
the challenge implicit in the verb. Throw in "bring it" for good
measure.

I've checked the usual places, but the phrase is really too common to
come to any real head, and difficult to search for in the databases. I
did find some sort of collocation with "challenge" or "challenged" but
not with "fight." Some success, too, with "bring it baby," "bring it
man," and "bring it dude."

Can anyone help this fellow? Respond to the list please, and I'll send
anything on to him.

Thanks,

Grant