invading Pearl Harbor

[Jonathan Lighter]

This ex., the first of 37,000 that Google turns up for "invaded Pearl
Harbor," suggests that for some people "invade" does include "attack solely
by air":

2004 http://www.snappingturtle.net/jmc/tmblog/archives/003919.html  :
The Germans Invaded Pearl Harbor?...

Bluto' s inspirational speech [in the film "Animal House"]: "Over? Did you
say, 'over?' Nothing is over until WE decide it is! Was [it] over when the
Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"

Note that John Belushi's Bluto doesn't say "invaded": the blogger does.

This one is from a social studies review book written by an educator and
published by the prestigious Barron's. No child left behind!:

2007 Shannon M. Pugh _Barron's How to Prepare for the TAKS: Texas Assessment
of Knowledge and Skills Social Studies Exit Exam_ (Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's
Educational) 81: On December 7, 1949, the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor,
killing more than 2,400 Americans. President Franklin Roosevelt referred to
the invasion as "a day that will live in infamy"....

(Bonus blunder:  FDR very clearly said "a date which," not "a day that." But
so what, right?)

Do such writers/speakers also designate the aerial battle of Britain as an
"invasion"?

JL

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 3:52 PM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: invading Pearl Harbor
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Jonathan Lighter wrote
> > Back in February I noted the academic who in 2006  mentioned the Japanese
> > "invasion" of Pearl Harbor (though damned if I can find the discussion in
> > the Archives).
>
> Here is a link to your earlier posting in the ADS archive:
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1002A&L=ADS-L&P=R6923
>
> The following search query finds about 9 relevant hits in the archive
> dated 2010 February 5.
> Narrow Search: Subject Contains: Pearl Harbor
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S2=ADS-L&q=&s=Pearl+Harbor&f=&a=&b=
>
> Google Books contains a few works that mention the invasion of Pearl
> Harbor by Japan. This remarkably evanescent event escaped detection by
> most historians. However, an authoritative reference mentioning this
> inexplicably overlooked pivotal occurrence was produced by
> Merriam-Webster in 1997.
>
> Citation: 1997, Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Page 1225,
> Column 2, Merriam-Webster, Inc. (Google Books limited view)
>
> Dictionary entry for United States: ... entered WWII after Japanese
> invasion of Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941 ...
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=Co_VIPIJerIC&q=%22invasion+of+Pearl%22#v=snippet&
>
> The Japanese did invade the airspace of Pearl Harbor.
>
> (continuing  Jonathan Lighter's post)
>  >
> > He wasn't alone:
> >
> > 1996 Clarice Swisher, ed. _Readings on John Steinbeck_ (San Diego:
> > Greenhaven Press) 22: He finished the manuscript...just before the
> Japanese
> > invasion of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
> >
> > Ignorance of semantics or of history?  A cynical s.o.b. might suggest
> that
> > these characterizations (and presumably a million others unrecorded) of
> the
> > attack as an "invasion" may mask a genuine ignorance of history. If the
> > Japanese really "invaded," then the "invasion" was obviously repulsed. In
> > that case the devastating air attack was secondary to the failed
> invasion.
> >
> > So we won at Pearl Harbor. No biggie.
> >
> > JL
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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