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Re: "Owned"

Subject: Re: "Owned"
From: Harlan Messinger
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 08:46:53 -0500
Newsgroups: alt.english.usage, sci.lang
HVS wrote:
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.

Oh, yeah, that was the version I saw originally. Much less abrupt. You prefer the abrupt version. :-)

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