In Impromptus today, I quote one of the more ludicrous claims of a presidential candidate, then say, “If you believe that, I have a bridge a few miles from where I’m typing that I’d like to sell you.” I’m talking about the Brooklyn Bridge, of course. From time immemorial, “selling the Brooklyn Bridge” has meant . . . well, you know what it means.
A reader writes to me, “I have a suggestion. Instead of the formulation ‘If you believe X, I have a bridge to sell you,’ let’s say, ‘If you believe X, I have a shovel-ready project for you.’ I’m hoping for a one-term Obama presidency, but I hope he is forever memorialized in that saying.”
Very promising — a neologism for the ages?