Assassination euphemisms

[Jonathan Lighter]

A good point, particularly since for many years the phrase has
been identified with the CIA.

Regardless of the agency involved, I doubt that more than one individual
ever uttered the phrase before its popularization.  IMO.

JL
On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 4:51 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Assassination euphemisms
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  The SPT article I linked to earlier was one of many published between
> Aug. 14 (NYT) and Aug 27 on this subject. A handful of these are freely
> available on GNA. The basic thrust of SPT article focused on one
> individual with charges potentially being brought against 8 people, up
> to a general. The specific person in question is the one credited with
> the claim that he was ordered to "exterminate with extreme prejudice"
> the agent in question (someone who was supposed to have watched the
> trails in Cambodia). The article says that the Special Forces office
> that was handling the prisoner repeatedly asked for instructions from
> the CIA over a period of more than two weeks. Finally, they sent the
> final notice on June 20. Having received no prompt reply, they executed
> the prisoner. By the time the CIA reply came "more than 24 hours" later,
> it was too late, even though the response ordered the prisoner "spared".
> So the orders to "exterminate with extreme prejudice", according to this
> timeline, could not have come from the CIA and their use lies strictly
> within intelligence services of Special Forces/Green Berets (i.e.,
> Army). Other reporters, such as NYT, might have given conflicting
> information. But I do want to point out that there are readily available
> resources on this case that ascribe the phrase to the Special Forces and
> subsequent use--at least up to 1975--also suggests "Army intelligence"
> origin. I am not claiming that this is a factually correct claim, but
> certainly one worthy of consideration, if not priority, over the CIA claim.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 7/14/2010 3:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > 1969 Terence Smith in _N.Y. Times_ (Aug. 14) 2: His status as a double
> agent
> > was reportedly confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency which,
> according
> > to the sources, suggested that he either be isolated or "terminated with
> > extreme prejudice." This term is said to be an intelligence euphemism for
> > execution.
> >
> > Just how many people in the CIA might have been familiar with this phrase
> > before its appearance in the _Times_ is another interesting question.
>  While
> > "terminate" rings with authenticity as far as I'm concerned, the "extreme
> > prejudice" stuff sounds like somebody groping for "extreme" emphasis.
> >
> > Gratuitous SWAG:  the now-familiar grotesque phrase was created at the
> time
> > of the incident (apparently June 20, 1969) by a single individual and was
> > never a general "CIA euphemism."  Its grotesqueness (and the context of
> its
> > appearance in print) guaranteed its survival.
> >
> > JL
>
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