antibiotic = 'effective medicine' (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

In my experience, the average American now refers loosely to any
prescription medicine intended to fight a disease as an "antibiotic."

Banfield is not a dope. I assume she knows what "antibiotic" really means.
But it sounds so much more technical than "medicine."

"Have the doctor give you an antibiotic" is heard as frequently as is "the
flu" meaning a common cold with a low fever. Probably a prescription
painkiller wouldn't be called an "antibiotic," but that's just my guess.

Which isn't to say that (most?) people don't know what they're talking
about. "Antibiotic" and "flu" haven't lost their customary and medical
meanings. They're just used nonchalantly to include, in effect, other
things.

OTOH There was some mirth and embarrassment on Soledad O'Brien's show the
other day when it turned out that attorney, political strategist, and
former White House adviser Richard Socarides didn't know that a "python"
was a kind of snake.

I kid you not.

BTW. I often feel the urge to parody O'Brien's given name as "SoulDude."
 Does that make me a racist? Or just a screwball?


JL

On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: antibiotic = 'effective medicine' (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Does this fall into the category of
>
> 1. "Language evolution" or
>
> 2.  "Ashleigh Banfield is ignorant of the English language, an odd thing
> for one whose job should require fluency thereof"
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 10:49 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: antibiotic = 'effective medicine'
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      antibiotic = 'effective medicine'
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > A "diagnostic" example.
> >
> > Ashleigh Banfield of CNN, interviewing a woman who was cured of a
> > horrible brain illness, repeatedly describes the treatments as
> > "antibiotics." More specifically, they were "Prednazone and immune
> > therapies."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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."

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