"a Dunkirk experience"

[Laurence Horn]

On Jun 5, 2012, at 1:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> The Queen's Jubilee festivities on Sunday were marred by cold and inclement
> weather, but everyone danced and sang regardless.  An English commentator
> on CNN beamed that "This *is* the sprit of Dunkirk!" and another
> semi-explained for the benefit of us Yanks, "It's a Dunkirk like spirit
> here today, isn't it? I don't think you know what Dunkirk means, but
> anyway, it is getting a little windier and a little more iffy as far as the
> weather is concerned."
>
> Today again it was said that rain had transformed the celebration into a
> trying but wonderful "Dunkirk experience!"
>
> The Dunkirk experience I've heard of was rather different, though of course
> I may not "know what Dunkirk means."  Which "Dunkirk" are the
> highly-paid telejournalists, seemingly born in the 1960s, actually
> referring to?
>
Maybe the weather was so awful and the experience so miserable that everyone present evacuated at once.  With, to be sure, stiff upper lips.

LH

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