WOTY candidate (Dysphemism category?)

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue Apr 16 04:02:01 UTC 2013


ag-gag law: a law of a kind already passed in some states and being considered in others to make it illegal to investigate unsavory practices at factory farms and to label undercover investigators as terrorists

The term is attributed here

http://animalrights.about.com/od/animallaw/a/What-Are-Ag-Gag-Laws-And-Why-Are-They-Dangerous.htm

to Mark Bittman, but the link in the above piece is to this op-ed by Bittman from two years ago

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/who-protects-the-animals/

in which he writes 'Minnesota’s “ag-gag” law — isn’t that a great name?', which seems to me to imply he heard it from someone else rather than that he's coining it here.  Apologies if this has been discussed on an earlier thread.  Ben?

Anyway, I've seen several references to such laws lately, including several in letters to the editor in today's Times, so even if it's been around for awhile it may be picking up steam.

LH

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list