Friday, June 03, 2005

Inflation of Allusion

I may be turning into George "A near miss is a hit" Carlin in how the misuse of language gets under my skin. I've been all over word inflation, using strong words in inappropriate contexts that result in the devaluation of the word.

Add to that pet peeve the misuse of allusions. For the past several months is the comparison of X to Hitler. Insert demagogic target for X.

Amnesty International has just opened the floodgates with it's comparison of Guantanamo Bay with the Gulags. That the comparison is laughable, although the Gulags not even allowing holy books did make that crime a hard one to commit.

Mark my words: within the next few months we'll be hearing Gulag allusions for everything from Club Fed to UN postings that don't have mints on the pillows.

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