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On 31 Dec 2006, Harlan Messinger wrote
> Pat Durkin wrote:
>> "Richard Fangnail" <richardfangnail@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
>> message
>> news:1167542145.414575.290000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> "owned" seems to be very recent slang for "was defeated by."
>>> Like, "the nazis got owned by the Russians." Where did this
>>> idiom come from?
>>
>> I hven't heard it, but there is that expression, made familiar
>> most recently by Colin Powell--You break it you own it (or buy
>> it).
>
> That's been appearing in stores at least since I was a kid: "You
> broke it, you bought it."
Or the twee version -- "Lovely to look at/Lovely to hold/But if you
break it/Consider it sold" -- which, I'm happy to say, I've not seen
for a some years now.
--
Cheers, Harvey
Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed
For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van
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