kinetic

[Joel S. Berson]

"kinetic" as "moving, changing", from "kinetic energy", the energy of motion?

Joel

At 3/26/2011 11:30 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>A commentator on CNN describes operations against Libya as "a kinetic
>military event."
>
>In this instance, it's simply a pretentious, redundant description (with
>"kinetic" essentially meaning "dynamic" or "fluid") and not (as some might
>assume) a propaganda euphemism.
>The context was something like, "Well, this is a kinetic military event and
>so Obama needs to blah blah blah...."
>
>JL
>On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 8:52 AM, Ben Zimmer
><bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: kinetic
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 4:50 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> > >
> > > If you go to the video to about 2:51 mark, you will see and hear two
> > > weasels in terminological heat.
> > >
> > > http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201103250045
> > >
> > > Luntz claims he's never heard "kinetic". Hannity mentioned "kinetic" at
> > > 2:47, which is what set Luntz off. But Luntz's "explanation" of what he
> > > thinks "kinetic" means is completely idiotic.
> > >
> > > Wasn't "kinetic" mentioned here a couple of weeks ago?
> >
> > "Kinetic event" was the winner in the Most Euphemistic category in the
> > 2010 ADS WOTY voting (defined on the nomination list as "Pentagon term
> > for violent attacks on troops in Afghanistan"). Jonathan Lighter
> > brought it up here in September:
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1009B&L=ADS-L&P=R6716
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > --
> > Ben Zimmer
> > http://benzimmer.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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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