Rumsfeld won't have the guillotine "float down"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

I heard "float down" a few minutes ago on the replay.

  I think he was just groping for a snazzy synonym for "come down."  As a big official, he's expected to have a fabulous vocabulary.

  JL



Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: Rumsfeld won't have the guillotine "float down"?
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On 10/27/06, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> Did Donald Rumsfeld really say in his press conference yesterday
> (Oct. 26), after commenting that he would not impose deadlines on
> Iraq, something like "would you have the guillotine *float down* on
> them"? Either I missed a clever, subtle metaphor for imposing
> deadlines slowly (unlikely from Rumsfeld?), or this image is
> (another?) indication of his disconnect from reality.

http://www.defenselink.mil/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=3772
"Now, you're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come flowing
down if some date isn't met."

Float down, flow down, either way it's weird.


--Ben Zimmer

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