to "own"

[Wilson Gray]

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 8:35 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In a current weight-loss commercial, elderly knockout Marie Osmond's first
> grandchild (allegedly) calls her "glamma!"
>
> "I can own that!" Marie beams. "I'm a Glam Ma!"
>
> OED 4b: "To acknowledge as due to oneself; to accept as deserved or
> merited. Rare. Obs."
>
> A 1646 ex. only, and a splendid definition of what Marie says.
>

As Jonathan E. Lighter could own the field of historical American
slangology, were he not too modest to acknowledge the accolades of his
peers, as well as those of amateurs of the field.

Nice, Jon! Though I've oft seen that commercial, my ordinarily-incisive
mind failed to pierce to the heart of the matter.

-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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