WHO SAID: WE HAVE SEEN THE ENEMY AND IT IS US

Thomas Mende

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Oct 6, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/6/96

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Please don't tell me POGO. This is a rather historical phrase. I need
to find the true origin and have some proof of it.

Harry Randall

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Oct 7, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/7/96

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Thomas Mende <t...@ns1.sccoast.net> wrote:

>Please don't tell me POGO. This is a rather historical phrase. I need
>to find the true origin and have some proof of it.

OK, I won't tell you it was Pogo (although it was). Perhaps you
are thinking of Oliver Perry, who MET the enemy on Lake Erie and
they were OURS. I have no proof of this; I presume his disptach
is filed away in some national archive.

SteveH1491

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Oct 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/8/96

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Pogo's comment was a pun. The original quote was, "We have met the enemy,
and he is ours." I regret to say that I can't remember the source of the
quote.

Fred Shapiro

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Oct 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/8/96

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On Sun, 6 Oct 1996, Thomas Mende wrote:

> Please don't tell me POGO. This is a rather historical phrase. I need
> to find the true origin and have some proof of it.

But the true origin is Pogo. In _The Pogo Papers_ (1953), Walt Kelly
wrote in the Foreword: "Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with
small flags waving and tinny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the
enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us." In an Earth Day, 1971
strip, Pogo said "We have met the enemy and he is us."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Fred R. Shapiro Editor +
+ Associate Librarian for Public Services OXFORD DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN +
+ Yale Law School LEGAL QUOTATIONS +
+ e-mail: sha...@minerva.cis.yale.edu (Oxford University Press) +
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Fred Shapiro

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Oct 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/8/96

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The original quote was by Oliver Hazard Perry in a message to General
William Henry Harrison during the War of 1812.

Craig Reed

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Oct 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/8/96

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In article <53cjqq$h...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,

steve...@aol.com (SteveH1491) wrote:
>
>Pogo's comment was a pun. The original quote was, "We have met the enemy,
>and he is ours." I regret to say that I can't remember the source of the
>quote.

This was either Steven Decatur, or Admiral Dewey, if memory serves, in
reporting results of a multi-ship engagement on Lake Erie, I think.

You might try alt.folklore.military for this.

+++++ tha...@nwlink.com (Craig Reed) http://nwlink.com/~tharkun
Presuming adequate education (meaning, at least, a 4 year degree in one of the
"hard" sciences...) on the part of the writer, it's SF if he honestly thinks
it could happen, and fantasy if he does not - John W. Campbell

Bill Gascoyne

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Oct 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/8/96

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The Pogo line, "We have met the enemy and they is us,"
is a paraphrase of the original, in some military "friendly fire"
sort of incident of mistaken identity (WWII?), the report was
made from the front lines, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."
However, "We have met the enemy and they is us" is properly attributed
to the Pogo comic strip (if I am not mistaken).

---

Bill Gascoyne ----- Speak for them?
LSI Logic Corp. LSI |LOGIC| They hardly even
1501 McCarthy Blvd. | | listen to me!
MS E-197 -----
Milpitas, CA 95035 LSI addr: gascan@dcst16 internet: gas...@lsil.com

Juan Rodriguez

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Oct 8, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/8/96

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In article <53e0pj$c5s...@annex5.nwlink.com>,

Craig Reed <tha...@nwlink.com> wrote:
>In article <53cjqq$h...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
> steve...@aol.com (SteveH1491) wrote:
>>Pogo's comment was a pun. The original quote was, "We have met the enemy,
>>and he is ours." I regret to say that I can't remember the source of the
>>quote.
>This was either Steven Decatur, or Admiral Dewey, if memory serves, in
>reporting results of a multi-ship engagement on Lake Erie, I think.

Or, maybe, Oliver Hazard Perry?

Juan Antonio Rodriguez-Sero; ja...@halcyon.com;
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155-2940, USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but
if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
Theodore Roosevelt

Moonchild

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Oct 10, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/10/96

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Pogo's quote was, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
I think Oliver Hazzard Perry said the original quote, "We have
met the enemy, and he is ours" at a battle in Ohio, I think.

Beth
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