You can trademark words but not meaning.

• Author: Gillespie, Nick
• Position: Culture & Reviews

In a country that has long been cuckoo for catch phrases--from "Give me liberty or give me death" to "I want my Maypo" to "Whassuupp"--It's hardly surprising that 9/11 would generate a quasi-official slogan. Or that it would be "Let's roll!," the last known words of Todd Beamer, the most widely recognized hero-victim of the terrorist attacks.

Despite its relative inscrutability, "Let's roll!"--Beamer's signature phrase, heard by a GTE phone operator who'd been in contact with him during the doomed flight-somehow summed up the courage of the brave souls who mounted a revolt against the hijackers on United Flight 93. By causing the plane to crash in a field in western Pennsylvania rather than some likely target in Washington, D.C., Beamer and his fellow passengers saved dozens or hundreds of lives even as they gave up their own.

Yet as soon as a phrase--especially a heartfelt and serious one--is uttered, it immediately starts morphing into something else, typically a parodic version of itself.

When's the last time anyone uttered "Ich bin em Berliner," "I am not a crook," or "I've fallen and I can't get up" as something other than a punch line? "Let's roll!" is itself taking on an increasingly curious afterlife as the specifics of 9/11 recede from public memory.

Ironically, it's the phrase's official guardians who are transforming "Let's roll!" into a generalized "lifestyle" statement. Earlier this year, the Todd M. Beamer Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Beamer's widow, raised eyebrows when it trademarked the slogan, both to control its usage and to raise money for programs that "seek...to equip children experiencing family trauma to make heroic choices every day." But the foundation has done more than just sell its own "Let's roll!" paraphernalia as a fund raising tool. It's pursued a series of odd licensing choices that strain the credulity of even the least cynical observers.

In June, for instance, the foundation let Wal-Mart use the phrase as an employee motivation slogan and as a theme for its annual shareholder meeting. "It's an inspirational use of 'Let's Roll,'" Beamer Foundation CEO Douglas A. Mac-Millan suggested to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, reiterating that the words are "a call to action."

In August the foundation gave its blessing to Florida State University's football team, which has slapped "Let's roll!" on T-shirts, baseball caps, and other items. Each year legendary coach Bobby Bowden selects a theme for the season...