Word: parthia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...were not lost. We should perhaps consider whether Dacia is defendable, and what exactly we gain there when some of our finest soldiers are penned down in that barbarian Hades. After all, we have other, more pressing, needs to consider, in the forests of Germania, and the deserts of Parthia. Who, in the Senate, will approach the emperor on this, and say—Ad venatum vadamus. Stercorem pro cerebro habes, sed denarius hic sistit: Let us cut to the chase. You have shit for brains and the buck stops here...
...etymologist in me prefers “Parthian shot” to “parting shot”: the former version of the phrase retains the allusion to Parthia, that ancient West Asian kingdom whose inhabitants employed the charming tactic of firing arrows backwards while they were fleeing, or pretending to flee, battles. Treat this column as a series of shots from Southeast Asia. I have no advice to give. I’m just telling my (unabashedly enthusiastic) story...