never fight a land war in asia
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.41 in modern English
38
Scrabble Score
24
Letters
6
Syllables
14
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Although Britain is one of the world's most lucrative markets, with retail sales of £286bn last year, expensive shop rents and world-class local competition have kept international groups at bay. Indeed, some analysts put the UK in the "never fight a land war in Asia" category due to the challenges posed by the market."
- "Apple’s mistake in instigating a patent war with Samsung is illustrative of a larger pattern involving large stockpiles of patents. “Never fight a land war in Asia” comes to mind."
- ""Well listen here, Walmart," wrote blogger Caroline Gallay, "you should heed the advice of Vizzini in The Princess Bride: Never fight a land war in Asia.""
Etymology
Attributed to various military leaders, including Bernard Montgomery, Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur, the quotation has existed in various forms since the Second World War. It was popularized when used by the character Vizzini in the 1987 movie The Princess Bride (after appearing in the 1973 novel The Princess Bride). Asia is far more heavily populated than Europe or North America, and while Western armies had technological advantages post-WWII, these could be overcome (as they were in Korea by the Chinese PLA and Vietnam by the PAVN) by sheer numbers.