Pen-Elayne on the Web

Weasel Words

While reading Paul Krugman's latest column dissecting the Republican National Committee's ad accusing "some" people of "attacking the president for attacking the terrorists." Never mind that he hasn't been "attacking the terrorists," he's been bombing the shit out of countries instead (one of which, unlike Saudi Arabia or, um, the US, wasn't even a haven for terrorists until his army started their occupation) - Krugman terms the use of the word "some" in these contexsts as a sort of fail-safe: "Because he used the word 'some,' he didn't literally lie." And I really resent that. I like using "some" and other qualifiers to indicate to folks that I'm not necessarily tarring everyone with the same sweeping-generalization brush. And I'll be damned if I can't use qualifiers any more because some people misuse them.