OT: War of 1812

[Bill Palmer]

Oliver Hazard Perry is said to have reported "We have met the enemy and he
is ours" following the Battle of Lake Erie.

Bill Palmer


----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: OT: War of 1812


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: OT: War of 1812
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 3:37 PM -0400 5/27/10, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>At 3:13 PM -0400 5/27/10, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>I think that I was in the '50's, before I even knew that the U.S. had
>>>tried to invade Canada. I knew that there had been some battle on the
>>>Great Lakes that gave birth to some saying that I can't recall, at the
>>>moment.
>>
>>I was thinking either "Don't fire till you see the whites of their
>>eyes" or "I have not yet begun to fight", but maybe those were both
>>from the Revolutionary War.  "In 1814 we took a little trip, along
>>with Col. Jackson down the mighty Mississip?"  No, that was actually
>>after the war was over, and it's not exactly a saying.  "Damn the
>>torpedoes, full speed ahead"?
>
> No, I see on checking that that was a Civil War quote (from
> Farragut), and about the Battle of Mobile Bay, not in the Great
> Lakes.  I did find two *about* the War of 1812, although likely not
> the one Wilson was trying to dredge up:
>
> Very little is known about the War of 1812 because the Americans lost it.
> --Eric Nicol
>
> The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.
> --Solomon Short
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.437 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2899 - Release Date: 05/27/10
06:25:00

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