siren call

[James Harbeck]

I just read this in the Toronto Star this morning (D3, righmost column):

----
"Vermont is still an innovator when it comes to the environment,"
says Parenteau, who heard the ecological siren call and moved here
from Nebraska.
----

I have the very clear feeling that the author of the article (one Tim
Harper) is unaware of the classical reference in "siren" and assumes
that when people have spoken of the "siren song" they really just
meant that there was a siren (in our modern sense) calling them to
action. It was a very odd thing for him to write from my view for two
reasons: a) it's "siren song," not "siren call"; b) the sirens sang a
pleasant-sounding song that lured sailors to their destruction, so
one who followds the siren is heading for something that is not
presented unequivocally as a positive thing (though of course now we
use it for things that aren't necessarily baleful, either -- "the
siren song of the stage" has lured many a would-be actor to rather
smaller sacrifices, such as tables of 20 who want separate checks
(the real actor's nightmare, as the joke goes)).

Are we seeing yet another classical reference lost to reanalysis? Is
this a new loss, or has this one been going on for some time?

Ciao,
James Harbeck.

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