"ground zero" = ?

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Mar 6 02:34:55 UTC 2013


Really a bad movie too.  My freshman comp teacher raved and made us all go
see it, because finally someone was telling the truth about corporate
Amerika.

Best scene: imaginary hippie sex orgy in the Mojave Desert after the hero
steals an airplane.

Next best scene: ten-year-olds ask hippie chick, "Can we have a piece of
ass?"  (Fortunately, no.)

In an unrelated development, star Mark Frechette later went to prison for
his role in a fatal bank robbery he intended as a liberating blow against
the Establishment.

JL

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 9:14 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" = ?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> 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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> >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> 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:
> >>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>> -----------------------
> >>> > 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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> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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