Weasel wording

[Jonathan Lighter]

The real question is, was Reagan a citizen?  Do we really know?

Did you know that Gerald Ford was in actuality a man named Leslie King, Jr?

CNN will not cover these stories.

JL



On Sat, May 1, 2010 at 9:00 AM, 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: Weasel wording
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ... or the story is completely made up, which is why all the
> qualifiers are there. If we know that there was an incident that
> involved a bullet wound to a deputy sheriff, only "shot" would be
> unqualifiedly accurate. The rest--both qualifiers and words that they
> qualify--are all questionable, including "by". Then again, maybe
> "shot" in not accurate either. Was Reagan shot "by" Hinkley? Was he
> "shot" at all? [Actually, this is why I said that "by" is included...]
>
> VS-)
>
> On 5/1/10, 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:      Weasel wording
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > CBS News this morning reported on a deputy sheriff in Arizona, =
> > "allegedly shot by suspected illegal immigrants".
> >
> > Maybe one qualifier too many.
> >
> > Bill Palmer
> >
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