Bin Laden and PC

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:39 PM -0400 5/4/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I think saying "Bang! You're dead!" would have been sufficient, because
>language is loaded weapon.


I don't know; what if it jams? Or backfires?

LH

>On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Bin Laden and PC
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  At 1:16 PM -0400 5/4/11, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>  >
>>  >OTOH, I have a problem with the use of "KIA," in a case like this. KIA
>>  >implies that, like a red-blooded American defender of our freedom,
>>  >Usama had died in combat. I haven't read the news particularly
>>  >closely, but my impression is that Usama was basically a sitting duck,
>>  >not engaged in any kind of pro-, or even re-, active defense of
>>  >himself and al-Qaida.
>>  >
>>  Well, after all, bin Laden was killed in the course of the Navy
>>  Seals' action even if not his own.  After all, KIA doesn't specify
>>  whose action the killee was killed in.  Underspecification strikes
>>  again!
>>
>>  LH
>>
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