Success is never inevitable, right? You can’t win ‘em all. Last week we looked at lost-phrases. This week the focus is on winning. Or won-phrases, anyway. Perhaps ironically, the phrase “You can’t win ‘em all” is almost always associated with losing. As is also the case with “no-win situation,” a predicament in which a favorable outcome is considered an impossibility.
But then we have the “win-win” – a scenario designed to be of benefit to all concerned. As a phrase, it is used to describe a situation in which all parties reap a positive outcome.
To “win the day” is a phrase that goes back to Samuel Butler. It means simply to garner victory, to be successful. As in “Obama won the day in the 2008 election.”
“Win if you can, cheat if you must” is an interesting phrase which no one seems to understand or be willing to write about. Why should I be different? Perhaps the saying is self-explanatory and should be left behind when you go to the golf course. “Win hands down” means the same as “win in a walk” or “win in a breeze.” All three phrases connote success gained easily and with little effort.
“Hands down,” dating from the mid-1800s, seems to have originated in horse racing, where jockeys who are in control down the stretch may literally drop their hands downward and relax, as they coast to the finish line. (I know! Horses don’t really coast, do they?) “In a breeze” was first recorded in a baseball magazine in 1919. It refers to the speedy, easy movement of air in what goes by the name “breeze.”
“In a walk” is also from baseball, alluding to a batter’s getting to first base without having to hit his way on – i.e., due to the pitcher’s bad performance. “Win one for the gipper” originated in football. Knute Rockne was coaching the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 1920s. George Gipp was a star on the squad. Gipp became ill and took to his deathbed. After a conversation with his star, Rockne thereafter was known to rally his squad by saying, “Win one for the Gipper.”
Ronald Reagan portrayed Gipp in the move “Knute Rockne: All American” (1940) and appropriated the quote when seeking re-election in 1984. Which he won in a walk and a breeze. To “win back” means to recover something that’s been lost. Or someone who’s previously given you the jilt. To “win big” means to experience serendipity. As in “I went to the movies and won big: it was half-price day, plus free popcorn!” In recent years, though, and mostly in sports, this phrase has reverted to a banal literalism.
As in “Look for the Patriots to win big over the Cowboys.” To win over means to persuade someone, especially to bring them to your point of view. And so it would appear, anecdotally at least, that the word “lose” actually participates in more lively phrases than the word “win.” Which, I suppose, means that lose wins.
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Ark., where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at vicfleming@att.net.