[lg policy] The only linguistic impact of 9/11 is 9/11 itself

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the Web of Language:


The only linguistic impact of 9/11 is 9/11 itself

The terrorist attacks on 9/11 happened ten years ago, and although everybody remembers what they were doing at that flashbulb moment, and they altered many aspects of our lives, from traveling to shopping to going online, one thing stands out: the only significant impact that 9/11 has had on the English language is 9/11 itself.
 
Although expressions like “ground zero,” “Let’s roll,” and “weapons of mass destruction” got new resonance after 9/11, at least for a time, and the word terrorist itself became a lot more visible, only 9/11 has entered the language as a phrase that will live in infamy. New York’s Mayor Bloomberg actually wants to retire ground zero in favor of the site’s official title, “The World Trade Center and the National September 11th Memorial and Museum.” But he still uses the phrase 9/11. 
 
Read the complete post on the Web of Language http://bit.ly/nNCZkO

____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English                    
University of Illinois 
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801                                               

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage








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