Ebola cliches

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Wed Oct 1 17:20:55 UTC 2014


On Oct 1, 2014, at 12:40 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> CNN explains that "The CDC has been absolutely clear about one thing: you
> cannot necessarily catch ebola through the air."
> 
> This "not necessarily" business drives me nuts.  For years it's become
> extremely difficult for TV newspeople to say simply "isn't": they seem to
> prefer "isn't necessarily." Even in a case like the above, where the
> knee-jerk "necessarily" pretty much undercuts the intended meaning of the
> sentence. (It seems to say, "It's unlikely, but you can.")
> 
> Good news: CNN also reports that the CDC "has a lot of boots on the ground"
> tracking the disease.
> 
> JL

Not tracking it in, hopefully.  But at least science has shown that you cannot necessarily catch ebola through dirty boots.

LH
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