"homicide bombers"

Er, aren't most bombers homicidal?

It's just further evidence that for the Republican Party Mach '01, the function of language is not to communicate but to serve one's own ends. Which is arguably the function of language for everyone else, too, but that's another question.

Yes, language is often manipulated in order to change people's perceptions of things.

For example: "freedom fighters" become "terrorists", and thus, a great many legitimate organizations become grouped in with fundamentalist crazies into one big easily labelable bullshit amalgamation, suddenly freeing those bending the rhetoric from having to accept the validity of legit movements.

Or how easily someone who disagrees with Israel's brutal policies can be labeled "anti-Semite".

IMHO, it's because the majority of humans aren't interested in details, in the intricacies of existance, and would rather see things in the most simplistic fashion possible, even at the expense of actually knowing what the hell is really going on.

"Freedom fighter" is at least as loaded a phrase as "terrorist," even if it isn't much in use these days.

It's like the way people feebly try to have joyriders renamed deathriders.

It's bad mostly cos it decreases the accuracy. Bombing is bad anyway - being "a bomber" is already a bad thing. "Suicide bomber" accurately refers to a specific type of bombing tactic. Homicide on the other hand is what all bombers often do. Also several suicide bombers DON'T kill anyone other than themselves making the "homicide" term redundant.

There was an interesting thing I read somewhere which pointed out that remote terrorism - i.e. acts of terror where the participants could reasonably hope to escape with their lives - is a relatively recent development.

Surely there is a difference between Suicide Bombing (where the goal is to commit suicide) and suicide/homicide bombing (where the goal is to kill as many people as possible).

Yes Pete it is the difference between suicide and bombing. Unless you're trying to commit suicide by jumping curled-up into a swimming pool.

Ha ha.

Suddenly those No Bombing signs take on a sinister undertone. You'll be telling me that the No Petting signs meant I can't take my Pushme Pullyu into a pool next.

Of course the word bombing itself has been nullified by the idea of strategic bombing, and the US bombing campaigns in Iraq, Kosovo where the aim - as put forward by the publicity is not to kill people at all. Instead the loud bangs are supposed to scare them into surrendering. After all the idea that when you drop a bomb on a city lots of innocent people die (and we know they are innocent because they have a nasty despotic leader that we have to liberate them from) runs counter to what a nice Westernised democracy would do.

aka "surgical strikes", i believe

Because surgery makes something better...

I think the substitute terminology is a good idea because 'suicide bomber' sounds too much like a romantic cool righteous thing to be so calling somebody that might encourage ppl. 'Homicide bomber' at least makes the person sound like more of a nutjob. Why not call them 'psycho spastic violent shit-asses' or something?

oddly enough there's a double bill this weekend down at Peeple's where the Psycho Spastic Violent Shit-Asses are opening for the Homicide Bombers and I hear their lightshow is freaking intense

Any pyrotechnics?

If Ari Fleischer took dave q's advice, Time, Newsweek, et al would be shorthanding them PSVSAs within a week.

(umm I don't even know if T, N, et al have switched their terminology from su to hom so maybe not)

All bombers are homicidal. "Suicide bomber" is a usefull, accurate description of that style of bomber. Another one that annoys me: recreational drug users get called "drug abusers". (Excuse me, could you tell me the reason this heroin was manufactured if it wasn't for recreational use???)

Heroin was originally manufactured as a pain killer. It is still used as such.

Yep. Note use of word "this" in phrase "this heroin".

You mean the heroin that is slowly entering your bloodstream as I type?