new post: Blair and Rumsfeld end war on terror

[Beverly Flanigan]

Several months ago, I heard two British commentators say the Brits (and
other Europeans?) generally don't like the term; "war in Iraq," yes, "war
on terror," no.  They never used it (they said) with ref. to the Northern
Ireland situation and see no point to using it in the much more nebulous,
or diffuse, present case.  Blair is just finally getting around to
agreeing, apparently, but I suspect Bush never will.  The sloganizing value
of pumping up scattered attacks into a "war" is obvious.  Very interesting,
Other Dennis.


At 03:55 PM 12/13/2006, you wrote:
>There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
>"The British government has decided to drop the phrase "war on
>terror" from its official vocabulary list. . . . [and] before leaving
>office, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld bluntly repudiated it as
>well. . . ."
>
>Did Rumsfeld cut and run?  More about defining slogans at ---
>
>http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>
>Dennis
>
>
>Dennis Baron
>Professor of English and Linguistics
>Department of English
>University of Illinois
>608 S. Wright St.
>Urbana, IL 61801
>
>office: 217-244-0568
>fax: 217-333-4321
>
>www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
>
>read the Web of Language:
>www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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