[Ads-l] famous or infamous?

[Ben Zimmer]

On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 1:57 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> > On Jun 10, 2020, at 1:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >
> > Paradigm case.
> >
> > Yahoo News:
> >
> > "Fort Lee is named for Gen. Robert E. Lee, the infamous Confederate
> > commander."
> >
> > It would have been easier (and less condescending to everybody) just to
> > leave out the value judgment (if that's what is).
> >
> > JL
>
> If also would have been easier and less condescending if they’d realized
> Fort Lee is actually named for General Charles Lee, who served under
> Washington.  I remembered that from one of those McCullogh books about the
> Revolutionary War, and wikipedia confirms.  Now Charles Lee himself was
> both famous and infamous (
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lee_(general)), court-martial and
> all, but for insubordination and other alleged offenses, not including
> being a Confederate commander. That would have been no mean feat, since he
> was dead by the end of 1782.
>

The news article JL quoted is about Fort Lee, VA, not Fort Lee, NJ.

https://www.businessinsider.com/military-bases-named-after-confederate-leaders-2020-6

--bgz

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