[Ads-l] "WWII Jets Fly Over Washington"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I noticed something very similar a while back:


JL to ADS Dec. 6, 2007:

During the observation of the 60th anniversary of the [1940-41] Battle of
Britain, Fox News reported that a flight of "World War II fighter jets" was
being featured. "Here come the fighter jets!" exclaimed Fox correspondent
A.C. as a handful of piston-engined Spitfires escorted a four-engined
Lancaster bomber across the sky.  I chuckled to myself.

Just now, however, Fox correspondent M. K. has referred twice to the
resumption of Russian bomber flights right up to the borders of the U.S.
and Britain as involving "fighter jets."

So in popular usage, "fighter jet" seems to be shifting its meaning to
"armed combat aircraft of any kind."  This shift results from ignorance,
but it is a semantic shift nonetheless.


JL


On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 8:48 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      "WWII Jets Fly Over Washington"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> An article from CNN appeared in my Facebook field with the title "World =
> War II jets fly over Washington monuments."=20
>
> The article is at =
> http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/politics/world-war-ii-flyover-washington-na=
> tional-mall/
>
> The headline on the webpage has "planes" instead of "jets," but the =
> "Title" field in the html code has "jets," hence it appears that way on =
> Facebook and other other feeds.
>
> All the planes pictured are propeller driven.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf =
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2015 8:08 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Web newsmedium headline:
>
> Messed with my mind too when I first heard it.
>
> Was it current in E. St. L. ca1950?   No cites till the following =
> decade.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 9:41 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Web newsmedium headline:
> >
> > =
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 1:46 AM, Benjamin Barrett =
> <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > If the issue is about "to fuck over,"
> >
> >
> > When I was in the Army back in 1960, in a unit that was literally *at
> > least* 99.44% white, when I asked rhetorically, "Have you guys heard =
> how
> > Sgt.Rea fucked over Luplow?" my use of "fuck over" - a very common BE
> > expression - totally messed with the minds of my white barracks-mates. =
> I
> > had to try to explain to them what it meant. Naturally, since it's =
> slang,
> > the phrase has a wider variety of meanings than simply "to cheat or =
> treat
> > unfairly."
> >
> > Now, 55 years later, the phrase appears to have "gone mainstream," to =
> coin
> > a pswaydo-euphemism.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint =
> to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> "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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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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