tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073789.post112754365536959274..comments2024-02-23T20:05:42.671-06:00Comments on Eyeteeth: Incisive ideas: Jeb: Unleashing ChangUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073789.post-1128998072423740182005-10-10T21:34:00.000-05:002005-10-10T21:34:00.000-05:00Woot-woot for Eyeteeth at the blog of the Guardian...Woot-woot for Eyeteeth at the blog of the Guardian's <A HREF="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/backbench/story/0,14158,1580665,00.html" REL="nofollow">Giles Foden</A>:<B>"More from readers on the Bush family catchphrase that probably originated as a cold-war rallying cry for Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek. Habitually used by George Bush Sr, it was recently garbled by Jeb Bush into "unleash Chang" in a political speech. The original phrase was "unleash Chiang on the mainland", reports David Blumberg, a carpenter from South Carolina. Another view comes from Paul Schmelzer in Minneapolis, who says that as well as meaning "elephant" in Thai, "chang" is often combined by Thai mums with the word "noi" (little) as a euphemism for a young boy's penis. The two derivations for the phrase may not be so far apart as first appears. In the 1950s the CIA backed the Kuomintang to retake mainland China by force. Using civilian cargo planes, they transported food and weapons to a Kuomintang base in Burma. The returning planes were filled with opium, which was then sold in Thailand. The drug running continued long after the original military plan had been abandoned. Did the gung-ho anti-commies running the show pun "chang" and "chiang" late one night in Bangkok? Did Bush Sr (at one stage deputy CIA station chief in Beijing, under cover of being special envoy, later director of the agency) pick up on the phrase as it became fashionable in hawkish circles? Only Chang knows, and perhaps we must put the whole thing down to genes."</B>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com