battleship

Tue Apr 14 13:05:27 UTC 2009

In a conversation with a French acquaintance, he mentioned his mandatory service in "l'Armée"; I said I remembered him in a sailor's uniform.  His reply was that all French -conscripts- were simply in "l'Armée", irrespective of where or how they served or what uniform they wore.  Of course, "l'armée" can also mean "la force armée", which would be equivalent to the more general term "armed forces" in English.  I can't recall the exact words my friend used, but what he said conveyed to me that, at least as far as conscripts were concerned, the French military did not distinguish between sailors, soldiers, and airmen.

James D. SMITH               |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com   |whether we act quickly and decisively
                             |or slowly and cautiously.

--- On Tue, 4/14/09, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET> wrote:

> From: Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject: Re: battleship
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 3:38 AM
> And, as I have previously mentioned, referred to the
> crewmembers of these
> "battleships" as "soldiers"
>
> Bill Palmer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Hause" <dwhause at JOBE.NET>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 11:05 PM
> Subject: Re: battleship
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dave Hause <dwhause at JOBE.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: battleship
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > These would probably be the same "reporters"
> who describe any armored,
> > tracked, vehicle as a "tank."
> > Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
> > Waynesville, MO
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "James A. Landau
> <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
> > <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 5:06 PM
> > Subject: Re: battleship
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:27:37 Zulu - 0700 a wide-awake
> Easter Bunny named
> > Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
> >
> > Yes, the AP in particular seems to have gotten sloppy
> with their usage.
> > (Maybe they could actually get advertising revenue and
> not have to
> > restrict their content if they improved the quality of
> their reporting.
> > Here's an idea: hire reporters and editors who
> know what they're writing
> > about instead of hacks out of journalism school.)
> >
> > Today, Reuters made the mistake, referring to US
> warships off Somalia as
> > "battleships"
> >
> (http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKWAT01127220090412).
> >
> > On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:34:40 Zulu - 0400 another
> equally alert Easter
> > bunny
> > name "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> wrote:
> >
> > At the time when there was only one
> "battleship" near the lifeboat, I
> > heard (or possibly read) a report that the U.S. Navy
> had surrounded it.
> >
> > Reply:
> >
> > One news report this morning (I failed to note who)
> said that the snipers
> > fired "from the rear of the ship".  The
> average landlubber would snear at
> > that one.
> >
> > (OT: something not yet reported, to my knowledge, is
> that a very rare and
> > possibly unique event in naval history occurred: a
> warship fired on a
> > lifeboat it had in tow)
> >
> > A pet peeve of mine: misuse of the word
> "sniper".  A sniper is a person
> > who
> > takes careful aim at his target before firing, as
> those snipers on the
> > Bainbridge must have done.
> >
> > However, numerous news reports from the Third World
> have referred to
> > "sniper
> > fire" as if it were an everyday occurrence.  Yet
> almost never do we hear
> > of
> > anyone getting hit, much less killed, by said sniper
> fire.  If Ms. Clinton
> > had really been under sniper fire in Bosnia, as she
> claimed, there would
> > have been bodies piled up around her airplane, quite
> possibly including
> > hers.
> >
> > It would seem that reporters have turned "sniper
> fire" from "careful,
> > aimed
> > fire intended to kill specific targets" into its
> near-antonym of "random
> > and
> > frequently harmless gunfire".
> >
> > Another, related peeve is that reporters invariably
> refer to any rifle
> > with
> > the easily-recognizable Kalashnikov profile (including
> the rifles carried
> > by
> > the pirates) as an "AK-47".  There are at
> least three rifles in the "AK"
> > ("Aftomat Kalashnikov", Kalishnokov being
> the man who designed them)
> > series,
> > the AK-47, the AKM, and the AK-74.  At the beginning
> of the Vietnam War
> > the
> > Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army both carried
> AK-47's, but I'm sure
> > that by the end of the war some carried AKM's.
> >
> > Aside: most of those perpetrators of alleged
> "sniper fire" probably use
> > Kalashnikovs, which are excellent all-around rifles
> except for one
> > short-coming: they are mediocre sniping rifles (due to
> Kalashnikov having
> > designed them with mediocre-to-useless rifle sights
> which nobody has ever
> > bothered to correct).
> >
> > OT:
> >
> http://www.thestreet.com/story/10484571/1/aig-bailout-not-a-gift-to-goldman.html
> > used the word "liquefy" twice, once as
> >
> > "the Maiden Lane III transaction arranged for AIG
> by the Federal Reserve.
> > Maiden Lane was a way for AIG to liquefy exposure it
> already had on its
> > books."
> >
> > and once as
> >
> > "Now, many people have suggested that the
> counterparties should have taken
> > a
> > haircut. But keep in mind, AIG did get to liquefy its
> risk outside the
> > scope
> > of the contract"
> >
> > Is "liquefy" a valid piece of financial
> jargon?  If so, does it mean
> > "liquidate" or "make liquid"?
> >
> > I've only once (1970) heard "liquefy"
> used in finance and that was as a
> > joke: "The Air Reduction Company is in trouble.
> It's liquefying its
> > assets
> > and its inventory consists of thin air".
> >
> >           James A. Landau
> >           test engineer
> >           Northrop-Grumman Information Technology
> >           8025 Black Horse Pike, Suite 300
> >           West Atlantic City NJ 08232 USA
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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