abate = "to increase"

[Baker, John]

        Plausible though the all-too-compliant-press theory is in
general, it doesn't make sense here.  I think this most likely is a
wording error, either for "only 20 people" or for "continued without
abatement."  I don't think it's really a meaning error, since "abate" is
a commonly used word in stories like these and I believe the author of
the piece has used it correctly in the past.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of sagehen
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 3:28 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: abate = "to increase"

>At 3/18/2007 09:05 PM, you wrote:
>>Tell me I'm wrong about this:
>>
>>   2007 _Yahoo/ AP News_ (Mar. 18) [
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070318/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq ]: BAGHDAD
>> - Sunni insurgents, resilient despite the five-week security
>> crackdown in the capital, killed at least six more U.S. troops over
>> the weekend. A Sunni car bomber hit a largely Shiite district in the
>> capital Sunday, killing at least eight people....Across Iraq, at
>> least 20 people died Sunday, a sign that violence continued to abate
>> as U.S. and Iraqi forces press ahead with what many view as a
>> last-chance bid to quell the sectarian violence in Baghdad and
>> central regions of the country.
>
>Cringing, I can only suggest that perhaps someone changed this from
>"across Iraq, only 20 people died Sunday" (less than the average per
>day of the past several months, I believe), thinking it was not certain

>that no more had.  But still, "a sign that violence continued to abate"

>that only the present administration could take heart from.
>
>Joel
 ~~~~~~~~~
Or, if you have absolutely no compunction about lying, which leaders in
wartime have exhibited in practically any war you could name,  it could
be intentionally misleading.  The all-too-compliant press  will go on
echoing the official announcements without parsing or any attempt to
match words with evidence.
1984 forever.
AM

~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>

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