invading Pearl Harbor

ronbutters at AOL.COM ronbutters at AOL.COM
Sat Apr 10 13:36:29 UTC 2010


So this is more like a mistake on the part of editors and writers than an indication of what people really think.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Date:         Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:30:18
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] invading Pearl Harbor

Google Books turns up two or three exx. of "the Pearl Harbor invasion" from
the 1940s (or so it would seem from restricted snippet views), 70 or so in
total.

Though still very rare (contrast the 29,000 GB hits for "the Pearl Harbor
attack"), use of the phrase "the Pearl Harbor invasion" in published
material appears to have burgeoned in the last twenty or thirty years.


JL

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 9:21 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: invading Pearl Harbor
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Typo.
>
> Apologies.
>
> Sheesh.
>
> JL
>  On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 6:27 PM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: invading Pearl Harbor
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  On Apr 8, 2010, at 6:41 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: invading Pearl Harbor
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > 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."
> > >>>
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Does Barron's also say "1949?" or is that a typo?
> > AM
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "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
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
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