CNN follies

[victor steinbok]

You can thank the overuse of "graphic violence" for the first one. The
second one is contracted from "chronically ill veterans". There is no
excuse for the third and the fourth may well be avoidance of the same use
of "graphic".

VS-)

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Spot and define the strange item in each sentence, all heard today on CNN:
>
> "He witnessed a graphic sexual act betwen Sandusky and a ten-year-old boy."
>
> "It's mainly the chronic veterans that are homeless."
>
> "He's a congenital amputee, born without arms or legs."
>
> "He saw an explicit and horrible act."
>
> ("A graphic act" was used at least twice, many hours apart, by
> different speakers.)
>
> JL
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org