Bin Laden and PC

[Jonathan Lighter]

Y'know, I'm going to look into this. All I'm allowed to tell you now is that
the "Yankee" cavalry (as you quaintly put it) didn't ordinarily use code
names. Life was simpler.

JL

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 1:59 PM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Bin Laden and PC
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> But back to my question (from early in this thread):  How did the Indian
> get the name Geronimo?  Maybe it was a code name assigned to him by the
> Yankee cavalry--and he happened to like it, so he kept it when he avoided
> being KIA'd.
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 1:48 PM
>
>
> Well, there would have to be an interpreter present.
>
> Two interpreters, actually. SEAL doctrine.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > P.S.:  Last time I heard (which may have been in WWII, vicariously)
> secret
> > code names were assigned randomly from a big book of usable code names.
>  The
> > idea is/was that the referent's relationship to the name should not be
> > conducive to interpretation.
> >
> > If the administration wants to pay me in the mid to upper six-figure
> range
> > to eliminate potentially non-PC code words from the big book of possible
> > secret names, I'm ready.
> >
> > JL
> >   On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 1:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> I think saying "Bang! You're dead!" would have been sufficient, because
> >> language is loaded weapon.
> >>
> >> Peace.
> >>
> >> JL
> >>   On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrote:
> >>
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> >>> -----------------------
> >>> 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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