In one of our podcasts, George Will said to me, “Prudence is the signal conservative virtue.” There are others, of course — but prudence is Numero Uno. I lead my Impromptus with this. I end with a series of photos from Milwaukee. Lots of stuff in between — plenty for people to like and dislike. That column is here.
In a column last week, I noted the passing of Edward Johnson, “CIA Hero in Iran Hostage Crisis.” I have quoted the heading of his obit in the New York Times. I commented, “Our spooks — our intelligence agents — seldom get the recognition they deserve, which stands to reason: They work in the shadows, and must do so.”
Over the weekend, I was talking with a friend who spent his career in the CIA. He said, “Most of these guys are bland. They don’t stand out. That’s what makes them effective. You’d never know. ‘My name is Bond. James Bond.’ If you behaved like that, you’d get killed.”
My friend mentioned the longest-serving spy for the Soviets in Great Britain: an unassuming secretary, Melita Norwood, who worked at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. For 40 years this lady spied for Moscow. Did a lot of damage.
Very unflashy.
In an essay yesterday, I said, “I did not just fall off the turnip truck.” I said I learned this expression from Bush 41, long ago. He used it in answer to a reporter’s question, as I recall. As I noted yesterday, I have not heard the expression since.
A reader tells me, “My mother (1930–2015) said ‘I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck’ for about as long as I knew her.”
A friend tells me, “My dad had a similar phrase — Cuban version of the turnip truck: ‘I am not just arriving off the banana boat.’”
Another reader points out that Kamala Harris’s mother used to say, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” (To see the vice president quote this, go here.)
I did not grow up with turnip trucks, banana boats, or coconut trees. We just said, “I wasn’t born yesterday,” or, “You think I was born yesterday?” (Pretty common, I think.)
Maybe one more item, before I get going (and you do, too). In recent days, I have been citing names of businesses, and their slogans. A reader says,
In rural Newfoundland there used to be a fried-chicken place with the slogan “If the Colonel had our recipe, he’d be a General.” I never tested that for myself, sadly.
Man, wish I had. Thank you, one and all.