‘‘You have probably got it all anyway. I see no reason not to publish it,’’ Blair told reporters Thursday. ‘‘The key thing was the attorney general advising it was lawful to proceed. This so-called smoking gun has turned out to be a damp squib, because he did advise it was lawful to proceed.’’
I’m stumped. Gotta love those Britishisms, though.
A damp squib, is like something promising much and delivering little. I believe it may have originated as something similar to a firework with a damp fuse. I’m sure someine will come up with another different origin, but that is a basic modern meaning.
A squib is a firework, I’ll leave it to your imagination what a “damp squib” is like.
Not from the UK (but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one time) but a squib is typically like a small firecracker so I would think that a damp squib would be synonymous with an expected event that fizzled but it is also analagous to an racing dog or horse that starts well but fades before the finish.
A damp squib, is like something promising much and delivering little. I believe it may have originated as something similar to a firework with a damp fuse. I’m sure someine will come up with another different origin, but that is a basic modern meaning.
Thanks for the clarification. It must be nice to have a leader who is good with words.
I’ll add a little useless, and even somewhat unrelated, knowledge here. In shooting, a squib round is a underpowered round, which often never clears the barrel of the gun.
Kevin
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It was when we had one! But Thatcher (regardless of political affiliations) was the last to fit this category.
It was when we had one! But Thatcher (regardless of political affiliations) was the last to fit this category.
Relative to the capabilities of our leader, Blair is silver-tongued. But I digress…
Daffy Duck’s a better speaker than our leader.
What’s the matter - you aren’t impressed with “strategery”?
How about Nucular?
Further to this. I always understood a squib to be the detonator for a larger explosive load. If the squib was damp, it wouldn’t go off and your explosive device wouldn’t either.
Strategery…the power of TV is an amazing thing…Bush never said it, Will Ferrell did.
But he did nucular, amongst other comic mispronunciations. Even my republican lawyer boyfriend (who has a “W Still the President” mouspad) conceded Bush is a terrible speaker.
…and I thought I was an educated brit !
I thought a damp squib was something I caught fishing the last time I went. Down here in the south I try to stick to simple words or grunts…it gets the job done.
Uh?
See ? A simple grunt and now I get what you’re on about.
How about Nucular?
And that one is so easy: “New Clear” Just do that any you are always safe.
This reminds of an English guy I used to work with. He liked to say “Bob’s your uncle.”
What was funny to me is that Bob is my uncle!
If you’re really feeling cockney we say ‘Roberts your fathers brother’…