the.com/element of surprise
The only military tactic that stops working the moment you explain it.
means An advantage gained by catching an opponent or audience unprepared, because they haven't had time to plan a response.
from Not an ancient phrase — it's military strategy language, built from 'element' (one of the basic factors making up a situation, from Latin elementum, meaning a first principle or basic constituent) plus 'surprise' (from Old French sorprendre, 'to overtake,' itself from Latin super- 'over' plus prehendere 'to seize'). So literally: the factor of being seized-upon-from-above, formalized into strategic jargon sometime as warfare theory got systematized — tactics textbooks needed a tidy label for 'they didn't see it coming,' and this is the phrase that stuck.
- sun tzu rule
- attack where the enemy is unprepared
- expiration date
- dies instantly once announced aloud
- party version
- someone always texts the honoree beforehand
- best use
- works better as threat than as plan