From Newsgroup: rec.games.chess.misc

The mobster John Gotti became referred to as the "Teflon Don" when a
series of
charges brought against him failed to hold up in court.
Later, though, the police did manage to convict him. And I remember, in
news
coverage of this, seeing a police officer say on camera: "His Teflon has
turned
to Velcro".
Now, shortly before I saw this, I had read a book about the history of
chess.
No doubt many here can now see where this is heading.
Specifically, my question basically is:
Did the officer just make up his remark on the spot, or did he base it
on a
well-known existing phrase of the form "His/your A has turned to B",
and, if the
latter is the case, did that phrase derive, in a direct line of
succession, from
the phrase "Your rosewater has turned to urine", as used by Caliph
al-Muktafi to
his former favorite chess player, al-Mawardi, after as-Suli had defeated
him.
Of course, you might say that this question is impossible to answer
without
being able to read the police spokesperson's mind; but really I'm asking
if it's
likely to be the case; that is, was there in current use a phrase of the
form
"his/your A has turned to B" which could have been likely to be his inspiration.

John Savard
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.chess.misc

quadibloc wrote:

The mobster John Gotti became referred to as the "Teflon Don" when a
series of
charges brought against him failed to hold up in court.
Later, though, the police did manage to convict him. And I remember, in
news
coverage of this, seeing a police officer say on camera: "His Teflon has turned
to Velcro".
Now, shortly before I saw this, I had read a book about the history of
chess.
No doubt many here can now see where this is heading.
Specifically, my question basically is:
Did the officer just make up his remark on the spot, or did he base it
on a
well-known existing phrase of the form "His/your A has turned to B",
and, if the
latter is the case, did that phrase derive, in a direct line of
succession, from
the phrase "Your rosewater has turned to urine", as used by Caliph
al-Muktafi to
his former favorite chess player, al-Mawardi, after as-Suli had defeated
him.
Of course, you might say that this question is impossible to answer
without
being able to read the police spokesperson's mind; but really I'm asking
if it's
likely to be the case; that is, was there in current use a phrase of the
form
"his/your A has turned to B" which could have been likely to be his inspiration.

John Savard

I recall a chess annotation which was more or less:

"Black's queenside fortress has turned into a sieve", written by Andy
Soltis long before anyone had heard of Gotti.

Also "Strength has turned into weakness" is not unknown. Particularly in reference to the undermining of a strong centre.

The most common form of this that I've encountered outside chess is "X
turned to ashes".

For example, you are savouring victory in a competition when you
discover that the win was not legitimate, someone cheated for you,
and not only is your victory meaningless but you will be unable to
escape suspicion.

"The taste of victory turned to ashes in my mouth".

It's almost a cliche.

William Hyde
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