new use for "firewall"

[Dave Wilton]

Sorenson may be conflating "firewall" with "firebreak."


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Ben Zimmer
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:48 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: new use for "firewall"

On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:37 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
> So it goes from physical to electronic (digital communications) to
> metaphorical.
>
> http://goo.gl/eL45K
> > *His Super PAC is erecting a firewall in South Carolina. [...]

Ah, the old South Carolina firewall. See Safire, citing me, on John
Glenn's firewall in SC in 1984:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24wwlnSafire-t.html

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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