[Ads-l] "We ARE x !"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Just watched an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" from the early
'90s (can't be any more specific) in which  Klingons inspirit themselves
(with no non-Klingons present)  by chanting "We are Klingons!"

Emphasis on the word "Klingons," however.

JL

On Sat, Nov 19, 2011 at 12:44 AM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock <
spanbocks at verizon.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock <spanbocks at VERIZON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "We ARE x !"
>
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>
> Hardly. He gave talks every spring for decades in Ojai, which is a
> little over an hour outside of Los Angeles. There were always plenty
> of celebrities among the people who came to the talks every year. He
> was the guru of choice for some time.
>
> Kate
>
>
> On Nov 17, 2011, at 5:59 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "We ARE x !"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > "We are the World" was recorded in 1985.
> >
> > Coincidence?:
> >
> > 1956  J. Krishnamurti _Commentaries on Living: Third Series_
> > (rpt.1967: Wheaton, Ill.: Quest) 78: As you say, the world is of our
> > own making; the world is us and we are the world. To change the world
> > we must change ourselves....Regeneration must therefore begin with
> > ourselves.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 8:44 PM, Victor Steinbok
> > <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> >> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: "We ARE x !"
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Just to be clear--there IS a reduced version--"We ARE 99%!"
> >>
> >> Two more points of reference. If we go back far enough, we get "We
> >> are
> >> the World!" song, although that clearly had a different stress
> >> pattern.
> >>
> >> On the other hand, there is a current series of Farmers Insurance
> >> commercials that includes the phrase, "We ARE insurance," followed
> >> by a
> >> "We are Farmers!" jingle.
> >>
> >>    VS-)
> >>
> >>> I know, I know--it does not sound as romantic once you insert the
> >>> article...
> >>>
> >>>    VS-)
> >>>
> >>> On 11/16/2011 4:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>>> News reports over the past several days have occasionally included
> >>>> Penn State students both defending and deploring legendary coach
> >>>> Joe
> >>>> Paterno as well as offering gestures of goodwill to the alleged
> >>>> victims of Jerry Sandusky.
> >>>>
> >>>> The sudents can be heard chanting or emphatically asserting as
> >>>> individuals, "We ARE Penn State!"  I'm not sure what that's
> >>>> supposed
> >>>> to mean beyond, "Harken to us!"
> >>>>
> >>>> A few years ago, "We ARE Virginia Tech!" was the refrain of an
> >>>> alleged
> >>>> poem by Nikki Giovanni, written in the wake of an even worse
> >>>> situation. It seemed to mean, "We of VT are strong enough to get
> >>>> through absolutely anything unfazed."
> >>>>
> >>>> Both of these usages seemed familiar, but how?
> >>>>
> >>>> In another one of those epiphanous moments, I suddenly recalled
> >>>> that
> >>>> 1976 film _Taxi Driver_ ("You talkin' to  me? You talkin' to *me*?
> >>>> Well, you must be talkin' to me, 'cause I'm the only one here!")
> >>>> featured a slick political candidate, target of the insane Travis
> >>>> Bickel, who was running on the slogan "We ARE the People!"   (Cf.
> >>>> "We
> >>>> ARE the 99%!" )
> >>>>
> >>>> The irony seemed to be that the slogan in the film was utterly
> >>>> vapid.
> >>>> It reminded me of the equally inane, but seriously intended,
> >>>> "Nixon's
> >>>> the One!" of 1968.
> >>>>
> >>>> Moral: yesterday's inanity, today's inspiration.
> >>>>
> >>>> JL
> >>>
> >>
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> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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