Newspaper interview request

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 03/25/2003 11:29:38 AM Eastern Standard Time,
rchin at PIONEERPRESS.COM writes:

>  liberation

much used in World War II, e.g. the B-24 "Liberator" bomber.  OED has two
relevant senses, "b.  To free (an occupied territory) of the enemy, also
ironically, to subject to a new tyranny" and "c.  To loot (property), to
misappropriate."  Both have first citations of 1944.

Ironically, the US Navy referred to its verison of the "Liberator" bomber as
the "Privateer"

>  coalition

the various alliances that fought Napoleon were called the "nth Coalition",
so the usage is at least 2 centuries old.  In the 20th Century we have had
military alliances known as the "Axis" (originally "Rome-Berlin Axis", hence
the probable reference to a road map), the "Triple Entente", the "Central
Powers", and the "United Nations" (originally a military alliance before
becoming the succesor to the Leage of Nations).  Going way back, there was
the Aetolian League etc. in Classical Greece (I don't know what Greek word
was translated as "League")

>appeasement

a word of much use in describing the events while war is still being
threatened rather than actively fought (e.g. Munich in 1938), but it's a
little bit of work to come up with a context in which "appeasement" makes
sense during a hot war.

          - Jim Landau