"accuser" = 'victim'

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/18/2013 07:49 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >"The AP also does not generally identify people who say they were victims
>of sex crimes."
>
>I believe part of the reason for this sort of sentence is to emphasize the
>personhood of victims. Another factor is that not everyone who claims to be
>a victim of a "sex crime" is necessarily a victim or - more significantly -
>the victim of the accused.

Jon, I'm often with you -- but not here.  In addition to Neil's
points  about the general aspects and the AP wording in particular
(essentially the same as my sentiments), in this case the statement
is after accusers were *convicted*.

Joel


>JL
>
>On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "accuser" = 'victim'
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Mar 17, 2013, at 7:23 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:
> >
> > > Doing a little bit of searching on "survivor accuser victim," I find
> > > that if anything, the use of "accuser" instead of "victim" is not seen
> > > as a goodthing, but rather one more obstacle for rape victims to
> > > overcome. If no one can be called a rape victim until after they have
> > > accused someone, who has subsequently been convicted, what about all the
> > > rapes that go unreported, or which don't result in an arrest? See, for
> > > example, this blog post complaining about a legislator's move to replace
> > > "victim" with" accuser" in a bill:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/no-such-thing-as-a-rape-victim/
> > >
> > >
> > > Having read the earlier message, I was interested to see that the AP
> > > concluded its story with a similar sentence, which finesses the issue by
> > > putting "victims" inside a presupposition-blocking "say" complement:"The
> > > AP also does not generally identify people who say they were victims of
> > > sex crimes."
> > >
> > > Neal
> >
> > And imagine the consequences if this practice (replacing "victim" by
> > "accuser") were extended to murder.  If no one can be called a murder
> > victim until after they've accused someone of the act, that would certainly
> > do wonders to bring down the murder statistics.
> >
> > LH
> > >
> > > O n 3/17/2013 12:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter 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: "accuser" = 'victim'
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> "Victim" is passive and therefore "demeaning" - or so I've heard. She's
> > not
> > >> a victim: she's an "accuser" and a "survivor."
> > >>
> > >> I notice that your post even uses the passive voice.  Wake up and smell
> > the
> > >> Kool-Aid!
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >>> -----------------------
> > >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > >>> Subject:      "accuser" =3D 'victim'
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > >> ------
> > >>> Yahoo! News's top story (of some past instant):
> > >>>
> > >>> Judge finds two Ohio teens guilty of raping girl
> > >>>
> > >>> [At the end:]
> > >>>
> > >>> "Under its policy of keeping the names of
> > >>> accusers in rape cases confidential, Reuters has not identified the
> > girl.=
> > >> "
> > >>> My guess is that, although the accused were
> > >>> convicted, because the article observes that the
> > >>> "girl"s story was questioned by the defense, she
> > >>> can only be described as an "accuser", not as an actual "victim".
> > >>>
> > >>> *By*Drew Singer | Reuters =96 24 mins ago
> > >>> [But]
> > >>> (*Writing* by James B. Kelleher and David Bailey;
> > >>> editing by Steve Gorman, Xavier Briand and Bill Trott)
> > >>> [ Emphasis added.]
> > >>>
> > >>> Joel
> > >>>
> > >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --=20
> > >> "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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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