killing people and breaking things

[Dave Wilton]

I too first heard the expression c. 1980. Although I remember it as
"...destroy things," but that could be a memory glitch.

The context was a retired general taking a senator to task for wanting to
send in the military to do what we would now call "nation-building" (they
didn't use that term). The sentiment was not taken as "contained" by the
senator, who was quite shocked that someone would actually admit on national
television that the army killed people.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 6:35 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: killing people and breaking things

Dave's instructor in 1967 must have been some sort of visionary. GB upholds
my impression that the phrase - as a cliche characterization - became common
in print only after ca1980, and especially after 2001.

The order of the activities is often reversed.

As rhetoric, of course, it has the _faux_ childlike quality of "What if they
gave a war and nobody came?" which was common enough in the late '60s
(indirectly via Carl Sandburg).

Moreover, "killing people and breaking things" (particularly in that
emotionally anticlimactic order) makes death and destruction on any scale
sound fairly contained and refreshingly satisfying. (Take that, enemy
creeps! See ya!)

That's why it usually appears in quotation marks. They allow the quoter some
distance.

JL


On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 5:13 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: killing people and breaking things
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>
> In GB, this is a snippet view from Amazing stories: Volume 15, Issues
> 1-6, dated 1941:
>
> "...I'll stamp around and I'll break things up and 'l'll kill people.
> I want you. Master!" and thus it went, ceaselessly. "He remembers,"
> whispered Clive. "He's mad!" "Not mad enough not to know what he
> wants," said Jason."...
>
> DanG
>
> On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> > Subject:      killing people and breaking things
> >
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> >
> > I'm writing an article about the military use of "kinetic", as discussed
> =
> > here a few times. A friend who has served in the Army defined it as =
> > "killing people and breaking things", which I've since learned is a =
> > common summary of the purpose of an army. The earliest I've found this =
> > phrase attested is from 1977, via Google Books:
> >
> >  Armies kill people and break things; therefore, their commitment =
> > involves serious questions as to who will be killed, what will be =
> > broken, and how long and by whom the effects will be felt. =20
> >  Parameters: journal of the US Army War College: Volume 7, Issue 3 =
> > (1977)
> >
> > Elsewhere, I've found it vaguely attributed to the Vietnam War era. Does
> =
> > anyone here know of earlier uses than 1977 for "kill(ing) people and =
> > break(ing) things"?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Neal Whitman
> > Email: nwhitman at ameritech.net
> > Blog: http://literalminded.wordpress.com
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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