Invading Pearl harbor

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Fri Feb 5 23:44:51 UTC 2010


I note that Reagan's famous speech about the Grenada invasion never uses
the word invasion...

http://www.beirut-memorial.org/history/reagan.html

Nor did Bush in announcing the invasion of Panama:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ghwbushpanamainvasion.htm

Or his son in announcing the invasion of Iraq:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wariniraq/gwbushiraq31903.htm

But the press used the word freely.

FDR had no issue talking about the invasion of France, however:

http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10717F73855157B93C5A9178DD85F408485F9

DanG

On 2/5/2010 5:59 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer<w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Invading Pearl harbor
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks JL.  A point I hadn't considered. I was about to counter with "what
> about the invasion of Normandy?" until your next post on this subject.
>
> In this country, whatever it was that happened in Iraq in 2003, is routinely
> termed an invasion, but I don't know if that is only used by those who
> opposed it, or not.  Maybe those who favored it were more likely to say
> "liberation".
>
> Bill Palmer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jonathan Lighter"<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To:<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 4:18 PM
> Subject: Re: Invading Pearl harbor
>
>
>
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>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Invading Pearl harbor
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Bill, my SWAG is that in PR/ feel-good/ bureaucrat terms, only bad guys
>> "invade."
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 3:12 PM, Bill Palmer
>> <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:
>>
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Bill Palmer<w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
>>> Subject:      Re: Invading Pearl harbor
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> In the 1980s when I was teaching war planning, the preferred term was
>>> "force
>>> entry".  For whatever reason, "invade/invasion" was never used.
>>>
>>> But in any case, I echo the comments of Brian&  others..."invasion" stood
>>> out as much more out of place than any other part of the quotation..
>>>
>>>
>>> Bill Palmer
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "David Metevia"<djmetevia at CHARTERMI.NET>
>>> To:<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 2:31 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Invading Pearl harbor
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       David Metevia<djmetevia at CHARTERMI.NET>
>>>> Subject:      Re: Invading Pearl harbor
>>>>
>>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>> I think invasion also implies an intent to conquer and stay.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 1:41 PM, Brian Hitchcock
>>>> <brianhi at skechers.com>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>> Poster:       Brian Hitchcock<brianhi at SKECHERS.COM>
>>>>> Subject:      Invading Pearl harbor
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>>> What seems more odd than the quotation marks around "evil" is the use
>>>>> of
>>>>> the
>>>>> word "invasion" to describe what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbor.
>>>>>   Wouldn't
>>>>> "bombing' or 'attack' or 'destruction' be more apt? Doesn't an
>>>>> invasion
>>>>> imply (at least some) 'boots on the ground'?
>>>>>
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>>
>> --
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