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Subject:Re: Alternative word for "execute" From:Matt Ion <soundy -at- NEXTLEVEL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 10 Jun 1997 13:22:59 -0800
On Tue, 10 Jun 1997 13:42:50 -0500, Walker, Arlen P wrote:
>Long before there were computers, the meaning of execution was "carrying
>out." In fact the meaning you use for it, state-sponsored vengeance, I
>think is derived from the fact that the person doing the killing is
>carrying out, or "executing," the will of the state.
I have to agree with Arlen - the use of "execute" in Simware's
documentation is proper. The use of "execute" as "to put to death (as
in "to execute a person") is, IMHO, a bastardization. How else would
executing a death sentence and executing a person come to mean the same
thing? I suspect it was the kind of logic that so often befuddles the
language: The "execution of the death sentence" gets shortened to "the
execution" and becomes a term to describe the complete act (ie. "...of
the death sentence").
Then again, I suppose after it's all over, the executee(??) does get
carried out...
>going to have to find replacement words for "cleansing," now that *it's*
>added a genocidal context? ("Oh No! Charley! Quick! If we keep calling Ajax
>a cleanser people are going to get confused and think it's a genocidal
>aid!")
"Ajax - purge the unwanted from YOUR society!"
Your friend and mine,
Matt
<insert standard disclaimer here>
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Rested and fearless, cheered by your nearness
I knew which direction was right
The case had been tried by the jury inside
The choice between darkness and light...
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