From Slashdot -- a bit off topic

Barnhart barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM
Thu Jul 19 22:53:23 UTC 2007


When my father organized the production of the _Dictionary of U.S. Army
Terms_ (TM 20-205, c. Jan 18, 1944) his boss was Col. Spaulding (Princeton
U.) at the War Department.  On his staff were Corp. Allen Walker Reed,
Private William J. Gedney, Bernard G. Mattson, Jr., Ellen L. Nelson, N.
Bryce Nelson, Harrison G. Platt, Jr., and Mildred L. Thorndike, among
others.  Most of these folks he worked with on subsequent projects.

Regards,
David

barnhart at highlands.com

American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> writes:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
>Subject:      Re: From Slashdot
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> writes:
>>>
>>>If someone else mentioned this and I missed seeing it, then sorry.
>But...
>>>I
>>>have long wondered why we have a Secretary of de-FENSE and a Department
>of
>>>de-FENSE, but all sports have DEE-fense. I mean, this is universal,
>right?
>>>At a football game the crowd universally does not yell "de-FENSE,
>>>de-FENSE,
>>>de-FENSE", and Rumsfeld universally was not the secretary of DEE-fense.
>>>Yes?
>>>No?
>>>DAD
>>>
>>
>>Well, I'm not sure I can express this succinctly. Here goes.
>>
>>The emPHAsis on the first sylLAble in DEEfense is to EMphasize the
>>contrast with OFFense in the vicinity of the grid iron.
>>
>>By the way, since Bush is so preemptively offensively minded, should we
>>not rename the DoD the Doo (pun on dog excrement intended)?
>>
>>Regards,
>>David
>>
>>barnhart at highlands.com
>>
>~~~~~~~~~~~
> It hadn't the added value of the pun, but in the (good) ol' days, it
>*was*
>the War Department, a franker admission of its role.
>AM
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>W stands for >:<  War ____Waste___Wiretaps____Witchhunts  >:<
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



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