candidate word of the year - "decider"

[Tom Zurinskas]

Apparently, George Bush said "I'm the decider" recently.


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
authorhouse.com.





>From: Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate
>Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 13:45:49 -0500
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
>Subject:      Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>There's a new post on Web of Language:
>
>Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate
>
>According to the Houston Chronicle, the U.S. army has kicked out as =20
>many as 58 Arabic translators recently because they were gay.  40 =20
>members of the House of Representatives want to know why, when the =20
>army is so short on troops that it=92s issuing what it calls =93moral =20=
>
>waivers=94 that allow convicted felons, drug users, and those who fail =20=
>
>to meet the army=92s educational standards all to join up, it can =20
>afford to dismiss soldiers with language skills that are actually =20
>critical for pursuing the war on terror....
>
>Not only is it difficult for the military to train compulsively =20
>monolingual Americans to speak Arabic, it=92s also tough for the =20
>Pentagon to find Arab American soldiers for that job: American troops =20=
>
>speaking Arabic as their first language often can=92t pass the security
>=20=
>
>clearance.  And even if they do, they may be regarded with suspicion =20
>by their superiors.  Since 2001, several heritage-language =20
>translators with top security ratings have been arrested on suspicion =20=
>
>of espionage, though, to date, there have been no translators convicted.
>
>As for those Iraqi Arab-speakers attached to the American occupation =20
>forces, they are frequently assassinated by their countrymen for =20
>consorting with the enemy.  Translation is risky business in a war =20
>zone, and it should also come as no surprise that many Iraqis don=92t =20=
>
>trust anyone who speaks English.
>
>Secretary of Defense Bob Gates sees no irony in the fact that the =20
>military finds convicted felons and illiterates less morally =20
>problematic than well-educated homosexuals without so much as a =20
>parking ticket on their records who might actually be able to =20
>understand what the enemy is talking about (not to mention what our =20
>Iraqi =93allies=94 are really saying).  Gates insists that in drumming =20=
>
>out the translators, the army is simply following the law, a law =20
>which he has no intention of reviewing.
>
>And perhaps we shouldn=92t be surprised at this latest military catch =20=
>
>22: the army needs a few good translators, and when it finds them, it =20=
>
>gets rid of them.  It=92s just a version of the bigger American =20
>monolingual catch 22:
>
>Americans, whatever their origins, don=92t study foreign languages all =20=
>
>that much -- we don=92t even study our heritage languages.  We are a =20
>nation forged from many ethnicities, and while Teddy Roosevelt once =20
>warned that the United States could become a polyglot boarding house, =20=
>
>we have become instead a monolingual nation, one that doesn=92t trust =20=
>
>speakers of any language except English.
>   ....
>read the whole post on the
>Web of Language
>
>
>
>db
>
>
>
>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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