[lbo-talk] Shot dead in London

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Jul 26 14:04:04 PDT 2005


ravi wrote:


>On 07/26/05 16:00, www.leninology. blogspot.com wrote:
>>
>> More importantly, if you are going to take issue in such a pedantic way
>> with the use of the term 'execution', it would be a good idea to propose
>> something better. You opt for obtuseness whereas Orwell, since you cite
>> him, would have insisted on clarity. True, this Brazilian electrician
>> was not executed, since that involves a legal penalty. But it is
>> descending into apologetics to displace the verb with a noun. And if
>> you prefer not to say he was murdered, which he may well have been since
>> police have no special powers in English law to terminate life, then the
>> obvious verb is kill. Hence: "Following the totally unnecessary killing
>> of..." would be a better way for pedants to proceed.
>>
>
>i was typing up words similar as the above, and am thankful for having
>checked my email before sending my thoughts. you say it much better than
>i could have. excellent, excellent post. thank you!

Yeah. I thought James's lead was snappy and accurate. It kept me reading. The kind of reader who'd stop is probably hopeless anyway.

Doug



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