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OP
old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Heard on the news a few days ago about this new poison found in London (UK) - rizin? reisin? risin? - dunno how it's spelled coz I gets most of my news from the radio. Anyway, the news report had a sound byte of someone saying the new scary thing isn't toooo scary because it's not easy to "weaponize." O God. MUST we?!  Anyone else besides me prefer the longer, but less hip and trendy and new, "less easy to turn into an instrument of biological warfare"? or similar....
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear MG: about twenty years ago the KGB arranged murder of an anticommunist by having him jabbed in back with umbrella of which the hollow tip carried a pellet of ricin, which is a derivative of Castor bean, and easy to make. And in that case easy to use. The victim did not realize his skin had been penetrated, and would have had no way of knowing he needed special treatment very quickly. So "weaphizing" an extract from a common plant sounds very easy and feasible to me. Of course there would be limits on how easy it might be to get intended victim into right place at the right time. Good only in limited circumstances. As far as I know the Russians used it only once for that reason. Here's URL about the Cold War episode in London. http://asia.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/07/terror.poison.bulgarian/
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Geesh! First y'all prescritivists are running around complaining about single words being replaced by long drawn out phrases, like metropolitan sanitation engineers for dustmen; next thang y'all are weeping and wailing and gnashing your teeth about long drawn out phrases being replaced by single words. Problem is y'all got no respeck for the language. It's fine as long as it does what y'all want it to, but y'all cain't take it on its own terms.
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veteran
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veteran
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The word makes perfect sense and is easily understandable.
The other word is 'ricin.'
k
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
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Problem is y'all got no respeck for the language. It's fine as long as it does what y'all want it to, but y'all cain't take it on its own terms. – Faldage - pathetic fallacy? The word seems fine, y’all just need to spell it right: weaponise.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
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. Problem is y'all got no respeck for the language. It's fine as long as it does what y'all want it to, but y'all cain't take it on its own terms. ~ Faldage The problem Faldage, is that your precious "language" has no "terms". Language has nothing. It is a mindless system of people-sanctioned words that tip-toe, spin, and dance at people's slightest whim. We are only whiming. Humph! And you call us prescriptivists. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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We are only whiming.
There you go again. Weeping and whiming and gnashing your teeth.
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Joined: Feb 2002
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
My additional whime (yes, I'd like cheese and crackers with that, maybe some grapes too): I just miss the good ol' days, when people weren't in such a hurry, and talked longer sentences that were often fluid and elegant and had a certain ring to them and a cadence and rhythm and je ne sais quois. (Unlike the foregoing.  ) "Weaponise" and other short and nasty expressions are hastening the demise of sweet speech. IMHO... 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The word seems fine, y’all just need to spell it right: weaponise. ~ dxb*rimshot*
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
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often fluid and elegant and had a certain ring to them and a cadence and rhythm and je ne sais quoisFor preference I agree with all you say MG, but if those who prefer to hurtle through time feel a need to use newspaper headline language to speed their passage, who are we to deny them?  Those fluid and elegant words and sentence constructions are still there for us to use and be sure others will also continue to use them for us to read and savour (I have to allow *you to write savor no doubt, but I won't comment ). Then again those slow descriptive passages such as you find in James Fennimore Cooper's writing take some stamina to work through these days. Fine in their day no doubt... I'm thinking particularly of The Deerslayer which we 'did' at school for some strange reason. Purgatory on a hot summer afternoon .
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