[Ads-l] famous or infamous?

[Jonathan Lighter]

So I'm not the only one who hasn't seen the movie.

JL

On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 3:59 AM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Fort Lee, VA, not Fort Lee, NJ
>
> Fort Bragg, CA, and Fort Bragg, NC cause similar problems.
>
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 2:24 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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