assassination

[Jonathan Lighter]

I would think not either, but he was not nearly so prominent as Kennedy. I'd
think, on the basis of usage and expectation, that if a national leader is
murdered under any circumstances it would be considered an "assassination."
How about a drug lord?  Possibly, if he was extremely powerful and killed by
a rival or a subordinate.

An entertainment celebrity? Probably not unless there was a clear-cut and
comprehensible political motive.

Perhaps the power and political influence of the victim is also a factor.


JL

On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 1:37 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: assassination
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 3/23/2011 12:41 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> >The recent Arizona events may provide a less hypothetical example.
> >Loughner clearly went to the location to assassinate Rep. Giffords. He
> >also intended some random shooting to accompany that act in order to
> >gain easier access to Giffords. As a part of this random shooting he
> >killed a federal judge. Clearly this was an attempted assassination of
> >Giffords. Was the judge assassinated?
>
> No.  He was not especially targeted.
> Joel
>
>
> >     VS-)
> >
> >On 3/23/2011 12:18 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>McCawley is right, but prominence seems to me to be a necessary
> condition.
> >>
> >>Calculation (or presumed calculation) on the part of the (alleged)
> killer,
> >>also seems necessary, along with some political motivation.
> >>
> >>The Kennedy-Connolly ex. presents an unusual case, and unusual cases can
> >>throw semantics into a tizzy.
> >>
> >>If the assassin had a political motive my guess is that it would still be
> >>called "the Kennedy assassination" because Kennedy was extremely
> prominent,
> >>and the killing would have been the result of some sort of calculation,
> even
> >>if the gunman missed his intended target.
> >>
> >>JL
> >
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