[Ads-l] but he's our dictator

[Stephen Goranson]

My apologies for forgetting that Garson already posted on this.
What may be new in the uses of that phrase, "our dictator,"
is that it may not currently refer to an ally of convenience,
but to one homegrown.
Stephen G.

On Thu, Oct 16, 2025 at 9:24 PM Jonathan Lighter <
00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

>  1943 Philip Jordan _Jordan's Tunis Diary_ (London: Collins) 147: He [Vichy
> General Charles Nogues]'s a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch if
> only we would make use of him.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Oct 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM Stephen Goranson <
> 00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Today I thought of this phrase while wondering why so many professed
> > religious people support (amoral? narcissist?) DJT. (Anti trans may be
> one
> > factor.) Variants of the phrase include but he's our son-of-a-bitch and
> > he's our bully.
> > Guesses of its origin are mostly in Cold War contexts, though Teddy
> > Roosevelt, among others, have been mentioned.
> > I have no good answer, but note an Oct 9, 1963 mention of Luis Somosa of
> > Nicaragua. [1]
> > Or maybe the earlier Somosa by FDR?
> > Is there a better history?
> > pre Oct. 18 no king day,
> > Stephen G.
> >
> > [1]
> >
> >
> https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/51589750/?match=1&terms=%22is%20our%20dictator%22&pqsid=xiuTjKIK2uz98NtlFUgdRw%3A211670%3A1466076811
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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>

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