Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 14:23:56 -0700 From: Bakul Shah <bakul@bitblocks.com> To: "Juha Saarinen" <juha@saarinen.org> Cc: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ports problems -- FIXED Message-ID: <200208232123.RAA11630@glatton.cnchost.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 24 Aug 2002 08:52:06 %2B1200." <05b101c24ae6$f0b06220$0c01a8c0@den2>
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> "Shooting yourself in the foot" doesn't actually refer to making a mistake. > It's what soldiers did in the Great War, to escape the hell in the trenches. > You don't usually die from a rifle bullet in the foot, but it certainly > takes you out of service for a long while. It describes an act of > desperation. Nope! Please see http://www.xrefer.com/entry/636711 -- here, I'll do it for you. shoot oneself in the foot Foolishly harm one's own cause, as in He really shot himself in the foot, telling the interviewer all about the others who were applying for the job he wanted. This colloquial term alludes to an accidental shooting as opposed to a deliberate one done so as to avoid military service This may have something to do with what can happen when your gun goes off while attempting to unholster it (in a gunfight, of course!). At least that is how I envision the meaning of this phrase! IIRC this phrase is older than the Barney Fife era though he may have been _the_ master own-foot shooter. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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