"ground zero" = ?

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Wed Mar 6 02:14:43 UTC 2013


Forgot the most important link, sorry. Even if my humor is weak the
film sequence is interestingly excessive.

Zabriskie Point final sequence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJsW6ta4X8o

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 8:51 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "ground zero" = ?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The metamorphosis of the underlying semantics of the term "ground
> zero" was triggered by the enormously influential movie critics of the
> SCTV Farm Film Report, John Candy and Joe Flaherty. The reviewers
> became ecstatic when discussing films which depicted things which
> "blowed up real good".  Zabriskie Point by the auteur Michelangelo
> Antonioni was a seminal work that was embraced by Candy and Flaherty
> and dictated a transformational understanding of the phrase "ground
> zero". Here is the primal clip available on youtube:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHkvD7-u7y8
>
> The relationship between intact objects and detonation was creatively
> re-imagined, and a new positive sense for "ground zero" emerged. A
> Google search reveals examples of the new semantics:
>
> 1) Downtown is ground zero for fun this Saturday & Sunday
> 2) We consider home the base, ground zero for happiness and success in life.
> 3) Let's start with ground zero for love, shall we?
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 7:20 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "ground zero" = ?
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>> "the central point in an area of fast change or intense activity."
>>
>> Pretty much what I was afraid of.
>>
>> Or perhaps "a dramatic focal point."
>>
>> Well, I suppose the original Ground Zero fit that description, didn't it?
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 7:06 PM, Nathaniel Sharpe <nts at bethlehembooks.com>wrote:
>>
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>>> Poster:       Nathaniel Sharpe <nts at BETHLEHEMBOOKS.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: "ground zero" = ?
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> In the years following the Columbine shootings, "ground zero for gun
>>> control" was a common phrase, appearing frequently in connection with
>>> the state of Colorado.  The intended sense of "ground zero" seems to be
>>> "the central point in an area of fast change or intense activity."
>>>
>>> March 01, 2000 FreeColorado.com
>>> Originally, the Million Mom March was supposed to take place in
>>> Washington, D.C. Now, it looks like they may focus on Denver. As The
>>> Rocky Mountain News reports (March 1):
>>>
>>>      [T]he local chapter announced this week that its efforts are now
>>> focused on a Denver march.
>>>
>>>      "Colorado has become ground zero," said state coordinator Kathleen
>>> Hopkins. "If we send 14 people to national instead of 14,000 that's
>>> fine. We need 75,000 here."
>>> http://www.freecolorado.com/1999/01/shorts.html
>>>
>>> March 07, 2000 - LA Times
>>> To many in Colorado--viewed by some groups around the nation as the
>>> current Ground Zero for gun control issues--the shared stage was a
>>> hopeful sign that in the wake of last April's Columbine High School
>>> shootings the issue of gun violence would be seriously addressed.
>>> http://articles.latimes.com/2000/mar/07/news/mn-6272
>>>
>>> May 15, 2000 New York Times
>>> "You may have heard that Colorado is ground zero in the gun debate," Mr.
>>> Mauser declared. "You bet it is. And we're going to show the rest of the
>>> nation how you respond to it."
>>> http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/051500moms-guns.html
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/5/2013 7:38 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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>>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> > Subject:      "ground zero" = ?
>>> >
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >
>>> >  From Yahoo! News. The meaning, please:
>>> > "Background checks may be ground zero for gun control.
>>> > "An expanded background check system may be the one major gun control
>>> measure
>>> > with a chance of passing through Congress, but its fate seems tenuous at
>>> > best."
>>> >
>>> > JL
>>> >
>>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>> truth."
>>> >
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
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>
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