When I first heard the expression on BBC World Service news,
it conjured a picture of two sulky, sullen infants standing at opposite sides
of the room while a referee-ing adult stands between them saying things like ‘Mary.
say you’re sorry.’ Mary, looking fixedly at the floor, mutters, just audibly
and with obvious insincerity, ‘Sorry’.
‘That’s better, Mary. Now, Johnny, you say you’re sorry too.’
‘Sorry.’
‘What did you say?’ ‘SORRY fuck it.’
‘Now, children, I hope neither of you has their fingers
crossed.’ (Both children blush.) ‘I’m going out of the room now, and I don’t
want to hear another word.’
Adult leaves, and hostilities continue as before, but more
stealthily.
This, it turns out, is almost exactly how it is. One wants
to laugh, but then remembers that these children have guns and bombs.
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