The current obsession with "Gone Missing"

[Wilson Gray]

Y'all don't watch enough tube. On TV, "go missing" *rules* and it
annoys the hell out of me, pace Ron.

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain





On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 4:39 PM, Robert Hartwell Fiske<Vocabula at aol.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Robert Hartwell Fiske <Vocabula at AOL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: The current obsession with "Gone Missing"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Gone" or "went missing" is, today, increasily heard and read (even the
> oleaginous among you should agree to this). More to the point, this idiom, like
> so many others, is -- and this was, or was meant to be, my main point --
> not an exacting expression. It appeals to people who apparently cannot bother
> with expressing themselves carefully or clearly.
>
>
>
> * The boy went missing Monday, the day after his birthday. USE disappeared.
>
> * In heavily Democratic Fulton County, in downtown Atlanta, 67 memory cards
> from the voting machines went missing, delaying certification of the
> results there. USE were misplaced.
> * When a $250,000 boat went missing while docked at the foot of Grand
> Street in Alameda, police seemed lost at sea. USE was stolen.
> * A large and potentially hazardous asteroid that went missing for almost
> 66 years ago was re-discovered by astronomers on Wednesday morning. USE was
> lost.
> * Â Fifteen people aboard the ship reportedly went missing. USE were
> missing.
> * Many went missing after joining the militant groups, while others
> disappeared after being picked up by security forces for questioning. USE deserted.
>
> * Â The prisoner went missing around lunchtime, but prison staff did not
> notice his absence until early evening. USE absconded.
> * She's a grown woman, and reasonable people can and should understand
> that, if they are going to go missing, they are going to cause public outcry.
> USE disappear.
>
>
> From the Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske
>
>
> Robert Hartwell Fiske
> Editor and Publisher
> The Vocabula Review
> _http://www.vocabula.com/_ (http://www.vocabula.com/)
>
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>
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