'Just World News' with Helena Cobban: Beware, language twisters at work

'Just World News' with Helena Cobban Info, analysis, discussion-- to build a more just world
« Remembering Rwanda: 'Frontline', and my interview \| JWN front page \| The 'threat that dare not speak its name' » Beware, language twisters at work Posted by Helena Cobban April 3, 2004 8:30 AM EST \| Link Filed in Hawkwatch The Bushies have distorted and twisted the meaning of so many of the words of our fine English language that it might seem irrational of me to take note of one particularly irritating distortion I saw--and not for the first time!--in today's WaPo. It's in a piece by Thomas Ricks on a hot tip that his idol, General Petraeus, will shortly be named to head back to Iraq to oversee the organization of all the "Iraqified" security forces there after this strange self-immolatory event the Coalition is planning for June 30. Self-immolatory? Well, not quite... Ricks quotes Deputy Secretary of "Defense" Paul Wolfowitz as saying: There's not going to be any difference in our military posture on July 1st from what it is on June 30th, except that we will be there then at the invitation of a sovereign Iraqi government, which I am quite sure will want us to stay there until... Excuse me? What is the meaning of the word "sovereign" in that sentence? I can understand what its function is, there and in a hundred similar sentences. But in the context of this sentence it is particularly clear that this function depends totally on a 180-degree twisting of the real, commonly understood meaning of the word. « Remembering Rwanda: 'Frontline', and my interview \| JWN front page \| The 'threat that dare not speak its name' » Comments Comment from... yankeedoodle, at April 3, 2004 10:23 AM: The CPA tried to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with the IGC for the express purpose of providing a basis for a continued US miliary presence after June 30th. About a month ago, the negotiations collapsed completely because no IGC member was willing to lend his name to such an agreement. Wolfie is lying through his evil-smelling teeth. Comment from... sunship, at April 3, 2004 11:18 AM: his teeth can smell? must be evil. :) (evil teeth, that is) hehe. Sorry for the clutter...just bored at work. Comment from... Cloned Poster, at April 3, 2004 12:35 PM: Great page Helena. I love Africa and spent 6 years in Tanzania up until 2000 and it should be discussed. I'd love you to post some messages on the BBC 5Live MB that I have listed as my homepage. Comment from... Helena, at April 3, 2004 06:35 PM: Hi all. Yes, you're quite right, Yankee. I know you did some good coverage on that on yr blog. I did some too-- hit 'SOFA' in my search box. Comment from... lipitor, at May 24, 2004 07:47 PM: Recently deceased blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan "comes to" after his death. He sees Jimi Hendrix sitting next to him, tuning his guitar. "Holy cow," he thinks to himself, "this guy is my idol." Over at the microphone, about to sing, are Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, and the bassist is the late Barry Oakley of the Allman Brothers. So Stevie Ray's thinking, "Oh, wow! I've died and gone to rock and roll heaven." Just then, Karen Carpenter walks in, sits down at the drums, and says: "'Close to You'. Hit it, boys!" -- Told by Penn Jillette, of magic/comedy duo Penn and Teller lipitor	Recent Posts on JWN • Realism, war, and pacifism (3) • Palin's performance: Insulting and very scary (28) • September 11 and the war in Afghanistan (6) • US's global dominance 'Reduced': It's nearly official! (1) • JWN redesign update #1 (2) • Oliver North??? (5) • J. 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Beware, language twisters at work

Posted by Helena Cobban
April 3, 2004 8:30 AM EST | Link
Filed in Hawkwatch

The Bushies have distorted and twisted the meaning of so many of the words of our fine English language that it might seem irrational of me to take note of one particularly irritating distortion I saw--and not for the first time!--in today's WaPo.

It's in a piece by Thomas Ricks on a hot tip that his idol, General Petraeus, will shortly be named to head back to Iraq to oversee the organization of all the "Iraqified" security forces there after this strange self-immolatory event the Coalition is planning for June 30.

Self-immolatory? Well, not quite... Ricks quotes Deputy Secretary of "Defense" Paul Wolfowitz as saying:

sovereign Iraqi government

Excuse me? What is the meaning of the word "sovereign" in that sentence? I can understand what its function is, there and in a hundred similar sentences. But in the context of this sentence it is particularly clear that this function depends totally on a 180-degree twisting of the real, commonly understood meaning of the word.

Comments

Comment from... yankeedoodle, at April 3, 2004 10:23 AM:

The CPA tried to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with the IGC for the express purpose of providing a basis for a continued US miliary presence after June 30th. About a month ago, the negotiations collapsed completely because no IGC member was willing to lend his name to such an agreement.

Wolfie is lying through his evil-smelling teeth.

Comment from... sunship, at April 3, 2004 11:18 AM:

his teeth can smell? must be evil. :)

(evil teeth, that is) hehe. Sorry for the clutter...just bored at work.

Comment from... Cloned Poster, at April 3, 2004 12:35 PM:

Great page Helena. I love Africa and spent 6 years in Tanzania up until 2000 and it should be discussed.

I'd love you to post some messages on the BBC 5Live MB that I have listed as my homepage.

Comment from... Helena, at April 3, 2004 06:35 PM:

Hi all. Yes, you're quite right, Yankee. I know you did some good coverage on that on yr blog. I did some too-- hit 'SOFA' in my search box.

Comment from... lipitor, at May 24, 2004 07:47 PM:

Recently deceased blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan "comes to" after
his death. He sees Jimi Hendrix sitting next to him, tuning his guitar.
"Holy cow," he thinks to himself, "this guy is my idol." Over at the
microphone, about to sing, are Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, and the
bassist is the late Barry Oakley of the Allman Brothers. So Stevie
Ray's thinking, "Oh, wow! I've died and gone to rock and roll heaven."
Just then, Karen Carpenter walks in, sits down at the drums, and says:
"'Close to You'. Hit it, boys!"
-- Told by Penn Jillette, of magic/comedy duo Penn and Teller
lipitor

Recent Posts on JWN

• Realism, war, and pacifism (3)
• Palin's performance: Insulting and very scary (28)
• September 11 and the war in Afghanistan (6)
• US's global dominance 'Reduced': It's nearly official! (1)
• JWN redesign update #1 (2)
• Oliver North??? (5)
• J. Diehl criticizing Saakashvili (3)
• Peres warns against attacking Iran (0)
• Georgia-Hizbullah: Dept. of Delicious Ironies (2)
• US probing Russian Red Lines in Georgia (0)
• Women discuss Sarah Palin (26)
• New vistas-- personal, and blog-related (12)
• The longterm status of Georgia: Challenges ahead (20)
• Text of the draft Iraq-US SOFA (10)
• HRW revising its Russian cluster bomb accusations (11)
• International tensions and the US election (9)
• Iraq: Another Quaker in the 'Red Zone' (3)
• HRW's flawed 'Research' on Georgian cluster bombs (20)
• More on China in Iraq (12)
• Post on China in US occupied zones-- at Japan Focus (0)
• Palin and the 3 a.m. phone call (39)
• China and Iraq (4)
• Egyptian delegation to break Gaza siege (2)
• Waiting for Gustav (5)
• Italy gives Libya $$ compensation for colonial rule (17)
• China buys in to Iraqi, Afghan end-games (15)
• "Resolution": Palin's goal in Iraq (8)
• China's way of 'Emerging' (6)
• A note on US politics (6)
• Conway does a Dannatt (sort of) (7)
• China gets Iraq oil deal (6)
• Rest-of-world saving US from recession? (5)
• Russia and the world (12)
• Milanovic: From Global Trade to Global War (5)
• The return of geography (3)
• Still no US-Iraq security agreement (yawn) (2)
• Iraq-US: More disagreement than 'Agreement' (23)
• NATO's supply lines in Afghanistan (27)
• My CSM piece on the big-picture implications of Georgia (21)
• Mahbubani on western hypocrisy, etc. (5)
• Condi in Baghdad: YES on a timetable (aspirational) (8)
• More on NATO, etc. (14)
• NATO's crisis (8)
• And another thing about Finland (23)
• Where in the world is... Ban Ki-Moon? (22)
• Russian military assessment: New arms race? (26)
• And now for a little audio (0)
• Yglesias nails McCain (4)
• Sarkozy's ceasefire, Georgia's future (22)
• Georgia crisis and the shifting global balance (0)