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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Note that this is a word post and not a political post. I learned a new word today in a headline from CBC Newsworld: North Korea denies withdrawal from nuclear pact is brinkmanship Now, I did guess what it meant, but looked it up on Atomica: The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede.I just thought fellow AWADers might like to comment on whether they like the word, whether they could easily guess what it meant, whether they think anyone else would've guessed it, whether we'll likely hear it too much in the future, and whether I must've lived my life in a cardboard box not to have heard the word brinkmanship by now. And if you, like me, didn't know it, help yourself to one serving of New Word, it's on me. 
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
The OED defines this as "the art of advancing to the very brink of war etc. but not engaging in it." Much the same as Atomica. I don't know who first coined the word (MW suggests in 1956), but have been aware of and used it for many years. I think it is very expressive.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
1956 sounds about right. It was quite common in the Cold War era, both as a phrase and a tactic. Perty scary as the latter; never had a problem with the former
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Perhaps I didn't know it because my shorter lifetime hasn't included enough wars to be on the brink of. Oh well, it's a new word just for us younger folks then.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I remember when the word was coined, but not by whom. The the Secretary of State, John Foster
Dulles had used the phrase "on the brink" and it was seized by those who wished to belittle him
and he was accused fo trying in a dangerous way to be implying that the US would use nuclear
weapons.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
And it was Dean Rusk who said during the Cuban Missile Crisis, "We were eyeball to eyeball, and the other guy just brinked."
TEd
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 322
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 322 |
Thanks for the new word, young Bean!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
FWIW, you also hear "brinksmanship."
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
brinksmanship
Rings truer to my ear.
Sure there shouldn't be an apostrophe in there?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Faldage: "Brinksmanship" is the art of robbing armored cars.
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