You all know what Hug Words are don't you?
No you don't because I just made it up.

Hug Words are words like Bambi, smokefree,
gaypride, Smokey the Bear, and any word that ends
in "challenged", and any word that includes the word "eco".
(Except Umberto Eco the Italian semantist, who should be kept away from all coherent words).

Antipodal to Hug Words are Poko Moko* words; words that by their mere vocalization brings forth fire and brimestone to the simple minds of the knee-jerk, jerk-water,** clowns who make up the vast minions of the Politically Correct.

And so now, good people, the Poko Moko word of the day is DDT.

DDT***

In Ceylon (now Ski Lanka), where 2.5 million cases of malaria were recorded annually in the 1950s, regular spraying of DDT led to just 31 cases in 1962. The world had never seen such a miraculous result.

Coincidently, 1962 also marked the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", in which she described DDT as the "Elixir of death".

"Silent Spring" is dedicated to Albert Schweitzer who said " man has lost the capacity to forestall and will end up by destroying the Earth."

Carson's implication was that Albert Schweitzer was talking about DDT. She lied. Albert Schweitzer was a proponent of DDT. He had seen it control malaria and boost crop output,
he was talking about the advent of possible Nuclear War, not DDT.

Today in Africa many starve annually because of the wholesale ban on DDT. But they have no voice to complain.
Chants and slogans have banned DDT.

Neat story: Dr. J. Gordon Edwards of San Jose State University is recognized as a world expert on the toxicity of insecticides and is a vocal critic of DDT's opponents.
Before he retired he would often begin his lectures on DDT by eating a spoonful of it, and Doctor Edwards was still climbing mountains well into his eighties.

_____________________(END)__________________

Ok Class, can you think of any other Poko Moko words
that might be killing people?


* Poko Moko see
http://www.clown-ministry.com/History/abbott-costello/slowly-i-turned.html
** after water-jerk towns.
*** Taken from an excellent book
by Dr. Joe Scharcz - 2004
The Fly in the Ointment
70 Fascinating Commentaries
on the Science of Everyday Life