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old hand
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old hand
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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 of trying in a dangerous way to be implying that the US would use nuclear weapons.- wwh
I too remember "brinkmanship" being first used in the scenario you have outlined above Bill, and John Foster Dulles was right. Brinkmanship worked. Europe was saved and the evil of aggressive communism has been thwarted without recourse to nuclear weapons. I'm glad aren't you?
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old hand
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Interestingly enough, Brinkmann is not very rare as a family name in Europe.
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Atomica assured me that both brinkmanship and brinksmanship are OK. I tried the word out on my husband yesterday, in the same context, and he correctly figured out the meaning. It was new to him, too. So we both got a free new word yesterday!
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Posts: 833
old hand
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Hey Bean, lemme be the first to weigh in with newbieness to this word (or, um, can't think how else to phrase this!): I'd never heard it before. Don't think I would've figured it out from the context but now I now what it means, it does make sense.
I like it as a word, but it somehow sounds more jolly and friendly than it "should" (ie, for what it connotes). It sounds so close to marksmanship or some other more sporting notion....But I guess if we have "war games," then "brinkmanship" (or "brinksmanship") is sadly appropriate....
Tanks fer the new werd, anyway!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
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>>Interestingly enough, Brinkmann is not very rare as a family name in Europe.
Perhaps not. But how many of them are in the ship-building industry, Wsieber?
- Pfranz
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old hand
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Would it be fair to say that because two Canadians (Bean & Mod..god..) haven't heard of brinkmanship that the rest of 'em are unaware of it?
I was surprised to find that neither of you had heard of it. Just showing my age I guess.
stales
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Joined: Feb 2002
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Would it be fair to say
Aww, come on, stales - are you saying Bean and I are TYPICAL or (shudder) AVERAGE?!
If I fremember to do it, I'll ask s'more Canajuns and post the results here....Mebbe Bean could do the same and we could compare notes.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Make that 3 Canadians.
Thanks for the new word, young Bean! (originally posted January 14).
(What am I? Frozen and chopped maple syrup?)
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Joined: Feb 2002
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old hand
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Joined: Feb 2002
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boronia, honey, I know! and I'm so sorry....think I was the first to post that I was the first newbie to this word. My bad - mea culpa mucho.  Well, I only remembered to ask two people - but both of them had heard of brinkmanship (without the additional "s"). One is Canuck-born and in his mid-forties, t'other is Canuck-naturalised (born in UK) and in her mid-seventies. FWIW.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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