What other one word responses have been made to military ultimatums besides "Nuts!", "Mokusatsu" and "If"?
score:22
The most famous one in France is le mot de Cambronne (Cambronne's word), supposedly uttered when he was surrounded with Napoleon's Old Guard in Waterloo, June the 18th, 1815:
Colville insisted and ultimately Cambronne replied with one word: "Merde!" (literally, "Shit!", figuratively, "Go to hell!") This version of the reply became famous in its own right, becoming known as le mot de Cambronne ("the word of Cambronne") and repeated in Victor Hugo's account of Waterloo in his novel Les Misérables and in Edmond Rostand's play L'Aiglon.
Although Cambronne himself later denied having said that.
Upvote:2
Götz von Berlichingen's famous (to Germans at least) Schwäbischer Gruß; "Er kann mich im Arsche lecken" - "he can lick my arse".
This may be entirely legendary.
Götz von Berlichingen really did exist, he was a minor nobleman, knight, pirate, kidnapper and freebooter in the 16th century, constantly feuding with all and sundry. The story was made popular by Goethe, and it was the response to a demand that he give up marauding and surrender.
Edit: oops, of course that isn't one word. Shall I delete it?
Upvote:6
As comments about mokusatu and Cambronne's example show, these one word answers tend not to be actually literal or not to be actually just one word. However, a famous one word answer to an ultimatum was Greece's answer to Italian ultimatum on October 28th 1940: "ohi" (no). It is still celebrated every year in Greece in Ohi Day.
Upvote:7
A runner-up must be "Μολών λαβέ" (usually translated as "come and get them") by Leonidas of Sparta after being told by the Persians (ridiculously outnumbering them) to surrender their weapons at the pass of the Thermopylae.
Upvote:15
Maybe not an ultimatum, but the British general Charles Napier is reputed to have replied "Peccavi" (latin for "I have sinned") after accidentally conquering the Indian region of 'Sindh' when he discovered belated orders telling him not to.
Upvote:19
"No" or "Ohi"
In Greece they celebrate "Ohi Day" or "No Day" to commemorate the day that Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected the ultimatum made by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on 28 October 1940 allegedly with a simple "No".
Wikipedia reports that his actual reply was “Alors, c’est la guerre!” (so this is war!).
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