Banning Cassell's

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 6/26/06, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>
>         The Language Log post discusses an unsigned editorial in the
> Guardian's Sunday Observer and a column by Joel Achenbach in the
> Washington Post Sunday Magazine, both of which argued that taboo words
> are precious commodities that lose their value when overused.  A
> distinction between the two pieces, unremarked upon by Ben, is that the
> Guardian appears to be entirely serious, while Achenbach is a humor
> columnist.

Achenbach's column is indeed rather tongue-in-cheek, but he's not a
humorist in the style of, say, Dave Barry. His background is as a
reporter, which explains why he actually did some legwork for the
column (like calling up Jesse Sheidlower). And I think despite the
lightness of his tone, his conclusions are meant to be taken as
seriously as the Guardian's.


--Ben Zimmer

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