Why Grammar is the First Casualty of War: "WHAT really alarms me about President Bush's 'war on terrorism' is the grammar. How do you wage war on an abstract noun? It's rather like bombing murder.
Imagine if Bush had said: 'We're going to bomb murder wherever it lurks. We are going to seek out the murderers and the would-be murderers, and bomb any government that harbors murderers.'
The other thing that worries me about Bush and Blair's 'war on terrorism' is: how will they know when they've won it? With most wars, you can say you've won when the other side is either all dead or surrenders. But how is terrorism going to surrender?
It's hard for abstract nouns to surrender"
No comments:
Post a Comment