The English language has evolved it to the point where even those who speak it fluently aren’t always sure what’s being said.
The government and the media are largely responsible for this. The apparent desire is to sanitize things or make them sound more impressive than they actually are.
During the Vietnam War, for example, the federal folks described enemy combatants as having been “eliminated with extreme prejudice,” instead of merely “killed.”
Thanks to the media, what used to be a “crisis” is now a “crisis situation.” The same phenomenon has infected weather reporting: Rain is a “rain event.” We also have “snow events” and “wind events.” (What’s next? A “crisis situation event”?)
Do you wonder, when you hear or read the forecasts, how a “winter storm watch” differs from a “winter storm warning” or “winter weather advisory”? Most of us know the meaning of “blizzard” or “freezing rain.”
What constitutes “snow showers,” “snow flurries,” “light snow,” “snow” and “heavy snow”?
Until one struck last July, few people had heard of a “derecho” (a widespread, long-lasting straight-line windstorm associated with thunderstorms).
Aware of the confusion, the National Weather Service plans to start substituting plain English for the 14 terms it now uses to describe weather, weather events and weather situations.
One possible example reads: “The National Weather Service in Rapid City (S.D.) is forecasting the potential for a significant winter storm.”
Most people should be able to understand that. The only questions left to be answered are: When will it start? How long will it last? and How much are we going to get?
Tropical storms (some of which become hurricanes) already are named under a system established by the World Meterological Organization.
Not satisfied with that, The Weather Channel has begun naming winter storms. The idea is that people will pay more attention to Winter Storm Helen than to a storm that has no name.
December saw Winter Storm Draco, which was named for an ancient Athenian legislator.
All things considered, that seems appropriate. Therefore we offer this proposal: Let’s start naming our manmade disasters after the legislators and other politicians who are to blame for them.
Editorials
Related Photos
-
Weatherspeak
Weatherspeak
NWS wants to simplify the language of its forecasts
- Editorials
-
-
They do bite
This week is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. For anyone thinking that is not such a big deal, consider that 4.7 million Americans annually are bitten by dogs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-
Stop buying licenses; let them find the money somewhere else
A few months ago, I received two cards from the National Rifle Association. These were dealing with a legislative alert.
They asked that I should contact Sen. George Edwards and Delegate Kevin Kelly concerning the anti-gun legislation. -
Strength of gun laws is not reflected in grisly statistics
According to the FBI’s uniform crime reports, California had the highest number of gun murders in 2011 with 1,220, which makes up 68 percent of all murders in the state that year and equates to 3.25 murders per 100,000 people.
-
An old story
What for years has been an on-again, off-again battle over funding between the Allegany County Commissioners and the Allegany County Board of Education seems to be growing even uglier.
-
‘Forgotten warrior’ not forgotten
The Korean War is often called “The Forgotten War.” My generation remembers the Battle for LZ X-Ray at Ia Drang, The Tet Offensive, and Khe Sahn of the Vietnam War.
-
Organization needed to help utilize the Potomac River
I am a committee remember on the Tamiami Trail Scenic Highway which stretches from Palmetto to Venice, Fla.
-
Reducing meat consumption can help ease climate change
A review of 12,000 papers on climate change, in the May 15 issue of “Environmental Research Letters,” found that 97 percent of scientists attribute climate change to human activities.
-
Editorial Cartoon - 05/18/2013
-
Maryland has stopped being “The Free State”
I am a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and, last but not least, the National Rifle Association. I am a yearly member of the American Legion.
-
Outrageous
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
This amounts to spying on an American news organization — common practice in dictatorships but scary conduct in a democratic system that prizes the public value of an independent watchdog press. - More Editorials Headlines
-
