Quote:
Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate
perhaps the poor and uninsured in the US should really look to Canadians, Poles, South Koreans, and the citizens of other such nations as the reason why they don't have affordable health care.
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Good idea, it's not like blaming foreigners for their problems has ever been a failing strategy to date.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
No, I am saying, the phrase pulling yourself up by your boot straps, or bootstrapping is synonymous with the impossible, more accurately the absurdly impossible, but is now used unironically as metaphorical advice on how to improve ones station.
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Yeah... because in this context, given the modern use of the term, you can actually do it. That is, it's not absurdly impossible, just more difficult than many people seem to appreciate. I suspect that this change came about gradually as a matter of praise to indicate just what an accomplishment it is to create your own success (e.g., "that's amazing, you started from nothing and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps").