Words of mass destruction
A recent televised newscast reported that Diana Ross had been charged with extreme DUI. This got us wondering whether California amended its drunken driving law to officially allow for “extreme” cases or if once again a word has been taken to “extreme” usage. The year 2002 took everything to the extreme. So much so that the Lake Superior State University in Michigan called this its 28th annual ‘extreme’ List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.
Make no mistake about it, now, more than ever, it’s a good thing that Lake Superior steps up to the plate, even if there is no score, recognizes the challenge as per its brand to list phrases that should meet an untimely death. The phrase especially noted that should perish forever from our lips and pages: Weapons of mass destruction. This term is played as the card that trumps all forms of aggression, but as one contributor to the university’s compilation noted, “A few thousand machetes in the hands of an army in Africa can lead to mass genocide.”
As with most things in life, what is one man’s refuse is another man’s fertilizer. Having said that, we would be remiss not to note that the American Dialect Society selected “weapons of mass destruction” as its 2002 word of the year. (Nevermind that it is four words, rather than one. This is the same group that picked a number 9-11 for 2001’s word.) The society nominated a number of war-related phrases including “regime changes” and “Iraqnophobia.” The society offered just one inspirational word, “embetterment,” coined by President Bush, but voted it down because it did not want to encourage its usage. For that we and the folks at Lake Superior offer our extreme gratitude.