fun with phrases

[Victor Steinbok]

Yes, we broke it by fixing it. If Friedman claims he coined it in 2002,
it could not be about Iraq. Woodward certainly used it in reference to
Iraq in 2004.

I WAS tryig to make a joke at Friedman's expense...

     VS-)

On 10/19/2011 7:25 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> On Oct 19, 2011, at 4:43 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
>> If I understand Friedman's version correctly as a foreign policy
>> commentary, then the correct version should be, "If you fix it, you own
>> it."
> I don't see that.  I thought Friedman's point was that we did break Iraq ("Stuff happens"), and so now (2003) we owned it, and it was our responsibility to fix it, and so on.  But the breaking did come first (even though he was gung-ho for the invasion before he was against it, to not coin a phrase).
>
> LH

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