churchill, a colonist? bah!

Last night I was browsing in a Bangkok used-book store for something meeting the following criteria:

• in English.
• never before read by me.
• likely to take more than 2 hours to read.
• not by Stephen King, James Patterson, or Mary Higgins Clark.
• yeah, that's pretty much it.

I didn't find anything. But I did overhear this informative conversation:

Guy With Unidentifiable European Accent: You know, America is a very young country. It's a baby.

His Bored Thai Girlfriend: Really?

GWUEA: Yes, it's a baby. A baby.

HBTG: Mmm.

GWUEA: Do you know what Winston Churchill said when Pearl Harbor was bombed?

HBTG: Mmm?

GWUEA: He said 'The war is over.' Do you know who Churchill was?

HBTG: Uh-uh.

GWUEA: He was a very important American general in the war. A very important general. And he said 'The war is over.' That's what he said. 'The war is over.' Do you know why he said it?

HBTG: Mmm.

This is where I sort of lost the thread of it. I was trying to decide if I'd misheard him, so I missed what I think was the keystone of the lecture: why, in fact, the war was over, and what it all had to do with the fact that America is a baby.

I picked it up again here (maybe I didn't miss that much after all).

GWUEA: Winston Churchill was a very important American general. And he said 'The war is over.'

HBTG: Mmm.

GWUEA: That's what he said. Churchill. The important American general.

At this point I couldn't listen to anymore so I rounded up Husband and we made motions to leave. On the way out Husband couldn't resist making this comment to a very surprised GWUEA:

"Next time, before you start quoting American history, please read a couple of American history books."