Dear Sarah...

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Tuesday June 16, 2009 · 8:31 AM PDT

2009/06/16 · 08:31

I used to be one of your biggest detractors, I used to hate you. I said you were not only stupid, but proudly ignorant. I said the fact that you were nominated for Vice President was a stain on the office previously held by the unapologetic torturer Dick Cheney. I even wrote an editorial in my school newspaper in which I called you a "bimbo." Boy was I wrong. You’re not stupid at all, you’re crafty, cunning and utterly without shame. I pray to whatever gods there are that you don’t become the face of the Republican Party, because we Democrats are going to be in serious trouble if you start calling the shots.

Bjennings

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Wednesday March 25, 2009 · 12:32 PM PDT

2009/03/25 · 12:32

Reading an article on the front page of the New York Times, I was struck once again by the language we use to describe criminals, terrorists and the enemies of society. Clinton, certainly not a childish speaker, used the term "bad guys" - a term I last used when describing the sides in a capture the flag game I played when I was 8 - to describe the people responsible for 7200 deaths of Mexican citizens last year alone. When speaking about ongoing military operations in Afghanistan, Obama and military leaders will talk about the need to "kill bad guys." Bush and his military people did this also, though they used childish language to describe just about everything they spoke of. Why then is one of the most articulate presidents we've had in a few decades (paired with a Secretary of State that is no slouch herself) use appallingly inadequate euphemisms to describe utter scum?

I have two ideas below the fold:

Poll

60 votes Show Results

Do you think we should stop calling criminals, murderers and terrorists "bad guys"?

60 votes Vote Now!

Do you think we should stop calling criminals, murderers and terrorists "bad guys"?

Yes, I prefer to not speak like an 8 year old

28 votes

Yes, because I'm a huge linguistic snob and like to try out words only seen on the SAT

5 votes

No, Bad Guys is a decent descriptor

7 votes

No, I really don't want "Evil" being thrown around for every person we don't like again

10 votes

Eh.

10 votes

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Dear Sarah...

Why Do We Refer to Criminals and Terrorists in Baby-talk?