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I just heard this exchange on an NPR program:
Speaker A (a think-tanker): You want to surrender to every country in the region.
Speaker B (a general): It's not a surrender, it's a strategic withdrawal.
Speaker A: [Derisive laughter.] Oh, I apologize then.
Who just lost the argument? I'm not sure.
In reality I'm peeved at A for callously dismissing the distinction between the two terms, which have a world of difference to a military man like B.
But if B had said what he said in, say, a movie, it would definitely be used to show how foolish he is, willing to niggle semantically around the plain fact of his army's defeat, and A's laughter would have echoed the audience's.
I suppose that you could say "Well, jmac, this isn't a movie." And I would say, "Isn't it?" Then there'd be a beat where we looked at each other in silence, and then you'd slap me. And I'd go Ooooh! like Curly and start crying.
Speaker A (a think-tanker): You want to surrender to every country in the region.
Speaker B (a general): It's not a surrender, it's a strategic withdrawal.
Speaker A: [Derisive laughter.] Oh, I apologize then.
Who just lost the argument? I'm not sure.
In reality I'm peeved at A for callously dismissing the distinction between the two terms, which have a world of difference to a military man like B.
But if B had said what he said in, say, a movie, it would definitely be used to show how foolish he is, willing to niggle semantically around the plain fact of his army's defeat, and A's laughter would have echoed the audience's.
I suppose that you could say "Well, jmac, this isn't a movie." And I would say, "Isn't it?" Then there'd be a beat where we looked at each other in silence, and then you'd slap me. And I'd go Ooooh! like Curly and start crying.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-19 05:01 pm (UTC)Now, the typical conflation is "retreat" with "strategic withdrawal". These are different, but much more subtly. Withdrawal, of whatever type, involves removing your troops from the combat area; retreats involve more running, and possibly leaving war materiel behind; strategic withdrawals involve you pulling out at a pace set by you.
This lesson brought to you by "All the damn milspeak I'm supposed to be writing today", and the letter "RUN!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MONTRESSOR!".
no subject
Date: 2006-12-19 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-19 11:05 pm (UTC)RAGE.
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Date: 2006-12-20 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-20 12:23 am (UTC)