science

[Jonathan Lighter]

Today on CNN:

"How to avoid diet pitfalls with real science."

JL

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 1:11 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: science
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jan 11, 2013, at 1:00 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > OED seems not cover this recent nuance: "scientific data or information."
> >
> > CNN touts a news show: "Anderson Cooper investigates the frightening
> > science behind the deadly flu epidemic."
> >
> > To my antediluvian ears, these words suggest that Evil Scientists created
> > the virus in their Mad Science lab.  But that's not what is meant.  The
> > "frightening science" is why (as well as "that")  this year's flu may be
> a
> > little more virulent than last year's and may possibly cause a somewhat
> > higher mortality.
> >
> > Note too the surprising connotative difference between "deadly flu
> > epidemic" and "killer flu epidemic."  The latter sounds far more lethal.
> To
> > me, anyway.
> >
> Yes, my intuition is that "deadly" is for things like poison that will get
> you dead if you don't manage to avoid them, but "killer" is for things that
> chase you down and make you dead.  Whence "killer bees" as well as "killer
> whales".  This is why there are significantly more hits for "killer
> tornado(es)" than "killer earthquake(s)", and why "deadly curve" sounds
> more natural to me than "killer curve", although they're both attested.  Or
> "deadly pileup" ("about 16,000")  vs. "killer pileup" (15 actual g-hits,
> with duplication).
>
> YMMV.
>
> LH
>
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