execution-style

[Dan Goncharoff]

Until the mid-60s, "gangland-style" referred to an assassination achieved
by ambush, often of a person in an automobile, although they could also be
at their home at some other location.

An execution of a captive was called a Chinese execution, starting, as best
as I can tell, in 1955. This article explains that Chinese soldiers would
execute people bound and kneeling:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6hxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ISINAAAAIBAJ&pg=4359,4911253&dq=chinese-execution&hl=en

A change seemed to occur with the murder of a rocket scientist in Ohio in
1966. He was killed at home, not ambushed, with bullets in the back of the
skull and the back.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70811FF3959117B93C6AB178ED85F428685F9

Then, in 1967, you find the murder of two boys kneeling against a stone
wall in a park called "gangland style".
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4AVRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Fr8MAAAAIBAJ&dq=gangland-style&pg=5102%2C344178

The use of the term may have changed because old-fashioned gangland style
murders were on the decline:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7RhEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vbAMAAAAIBAJ&dq=gangland-style&pg=6867%2C3815079

Meanwhile, the term is more frequently used for the executions of captives:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LMdaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=z2wDAAAAIBAJ&dq=gangland-style&pg=5136%2C4202543



DanG


On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 2:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: execution-style
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Gangland-style" would this seem to have two almost opposite nuances.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 12:30 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: execution-style
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I am finding of interest the differences between "execution-style" and
> > "gangland-style"
> >
> > The earliest example of "execution-style" I see is 1946, referring to a
> > "mass-lynching" of four black men.
> >
> >
> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q08sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HMsEAAAAIBAJ&dq=execution-style&pg=5384%2C3288130
> >
> > I have found references to "Chinese execution style" going back to 1957:
> >
> >
> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N8MyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vOoFAAAAIBAJ&dq=execution-style&pg=3855%2C5862396
> >
> > Chinese executions seem to lose the modifier sometime during the 60s.
> >
> > Gangland-style seems to refer to an execution in a public place, usually
> > with a Tommy gun, and is easily traced back to 1930, and I would think
> > earlier.
> >
> > DanG
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > execution-style
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>

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