[Ads-l] famous or infamous?

[Jonathan Lighter]

How soon can you become infamous?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/even-fox-friends-isn-t-150608180.html  *:*
Despite the infamous image of a downtrodden Trump shuffling off Marine One
on Saturday night, McEnany insisted the president was in “good spirits” and
a “great mood” on the trip back to Washington after the rally.

Or does it mean "widely publicized to someone's detriment"?

JL

On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 3:00 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> > On Jun 10, 2020, at 2:23 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 1:57 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>> On Jun 10, 2020, at 1:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Paradigm case.
> >>>
> >>> Yahoo News:
> >>>
> >>> "Fort Lee is named for Gen. Robert E. Lee, the infamous Confederate
> >>> commander."
> >>>
> >>> It would have been easier (and less condescending to everybody) just to
> >>> leave out the value judgment (if that's what is).
> >>>
> >>> JL
> >>
> >> If also would have been easier and less condescending if they’d realized
> >> Fort Lee is actually named for General Charles Lee, who served under
> >> Washington.  I remembered that from one of those McCullogh books about
> the
> >> Revolutionary War, and wikipedia confirms.  Now Charles Lee himself was
> >> both famous and infamous (
> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lee_(general)), court-martial and
> >> all, but for insubordination and other alleged offenses, not including
> >> being a Confederate commander. That would have been no mean feat, since
> he
> >> was dead by the end of 1782.
> >>
> >
> > The news article JL quoted is about Fort Lee, VA, not Fort Lee, NJ.
> >
> >
> https://www.businessinsider.com/military-bases-named-after-confederate-leaders-2020-6
> >
> > —bgz
> >
>
> Ah, that’s my Gotham-centric world view coming out again (cf.
> https://tinyurl.com/y9u6btxb).  You can just about make out my Fort Lee
> in the distance, and the Virginia one is nowhere in sight.  Nevermind.
>
> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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