All sorts of Americans are suddenly experts on the “British meaning” of the word “fixed.” Last night, Hardball’s Downing Street Minutes special dwelled on the subject at length.
Former CIA director James Woolsey:
I think that`s not what fixing means in these circumstances. I think people are not listening to British usage. I don`t think they`re talking about cooking the books.
Former weapons inspector David Kay:
Now, in the normal American sense of the word, to me, that`s books are cooked….There is another English meaning for that, so it`s unclear as to what it does mean.
But what does the British journalist who broke the story have to say about the so-called controversy?:
Michael Smith: There are number of people asking about fixed and its meaning. This is a real joke. I do not know anyone in the UK who took it to mean anything other than fixed as in fixed a race, fixed an election, fixed the intelligence. If you fix something, you make it the way you want it…fixed means the same here as it does there…
This isn’t too surpising. We do speak the same language after all.
UPDATE: For more, check out Media Matters.