March 16, 2006
It’s Hard for Abstract Nouns to Surrender
Why Grammar is the First Casualty of War, by Terry Jones
Jones badly confuses the Bahamas and Bermuda, but the spirit of his essay is right.
Words have become devalued, some have changed their meaning, and the philologists can only shake their heads. The first casualty of war is grammar.
Cat: | Time: 11:34 am (utc+8)
March 16th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
“Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam.”
March 19th, 2006 at 7:46 am
“If Bermuda had done it, then it would have been simple: he could have bombed the Bahamas.” I think Mr. Jones, a member of Monty Python, meant precisely this. After all, given that the World Trade Center was attacked primarily by Saudis trained in Afghanistan, the U.S. bombed and then invaded Iraq. Makes perfect sense.
March 19th, 2006 at 10:15 am
Robert: Yes, on second thought you’re probably right that it was intentional. Thanks for the comment.