Miswritten cliche?

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Feb 25 13:39:59 UTC 2012


America's top news sources expanded the meaning of  "execute" forty-odd
years ago or more to include "to murder (esp. more than one person)
vengefully or methodically."

JL
On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 1:08 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Miswritten cliche?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From the NYT BR, 2/19/12, 13d:
>
> "They … _executed_ suspected guerrillas …"
>
> Shouldn't that read, in context:
>
> "They … _summarily executed_ suspected guerrillas …"
>
> ?
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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> 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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