Sunday, March 30, 2003

Language Matters

I am a lover of things concrete, a stickler for meaning. I teach my students there is no such thing as a synonym. I may have a tendency towards the verbose, but I know words count.

And that's why the phrase suicide bomber pisses me off.

It's a common term. Today, after four U.S. soldiers were killed by an Iraqi in a taxi, CNN.com reports that Iraq promises more suicide bombings. But when one person deliberately causes four deaths, the suicide seems secondary. The semantic focus should match the narrative focus; the killed remembered morebetter than their killing.

I can't change the world myself, but I've got you. So help me out here. Use the term homicide bomber from now on, and lets see if we can't start a movement.

Go.

posted by boyhowdy | 1:58 AM |

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