Enemy

[Joel S. Berson]

At 12/4/2006 11:11 AM, you wrote:
>Maybe it's just me, but my perception has been that references to
>"the enemy" in military contexts have been relatively infrequent
>among media newscasters. I began noticing this during the Vietnam War.
>
>   It's used often enough for emphatic description: ("Let's remember
> that al-Qaeda is the enemy") but much less often in less
> explanatory contexts: ("Enemy fighters fired at the Americans").
>
>   Why this should be so - if it's so - is not at all clear.  Just
> one of those microlinguistic things ?

Perhaps because the U.S. has so many enemies firing at it these
days.  But I take your distinction between description and oration.

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org