European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 29, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 columns the stars and stripes monday june 29,1987 today s crossword obfuscation by doubtful synonymy by William Safire the Leaden of the free world huddled in Venice and came up with a state men about Freedom of Niiva station in the persian Gulf that urged the adoption of Jint and effective Raeann by the . Security coun cil but Tome pen Nickety rep Iii wondered Why the statement sounded to Why Why. Had t a More specific word like utcd7 a discussion came up president Reagan responded when asked about this Between a Choice of the words enforceable and effective. And it was decided a Case in semantics Here it was decided thai effective meant the other and we did t need the other word soil was agreed that we would use effective one meaning of effective is capable of producing the do tired effect hence one use of the adjective is to describe something that Worts. But can the word be used to mean what Reagan called the other in font sch so much so that the use of the two would be redundant a Case for the squad squad no. Effective is a Broad stretchable word that can be applied As a modifier to people As Well As things and events. Enforceable however cannot be applied to people you May think Reagan is an effective president but nobody can Call him an enforceable one. The latter word eschewed by the sum Mileen applies to agreements and has a Legal use an enforceable Cla Moners a cause of action and the essence of legality u that a contract is in brat we in a court of at the Center of the word is Force compulsion rooted in the latin form Reagan is familiar with the More powerful word in his address to the nation on his Velum from the Summit he used it in the context of America s commitment to a consistent enforceable plan to reduce our effective having effect just does not Havethe strength of enforceable. Its Width of meanings has led to a variety of offshoots efficacious applied a treatment efficient applied to the competency or ability of an agent to have an effect and effectual applied to the action and not the agent. An effective hair Splitler would say for an effectual result gel an efficient doctor who prescribes efficacious thus an effective measure one that will have some beneficial effect perhaps even do the Job is a far a from an enforceable measure which would re quire whatever action is necessary to carry out the agreement. The first is Fuz Zily rhetorical the latter involves a Legal commitment. For the president and his fellow Summ leers to suggest that enforceable was cutout because effective Means the same is disingenuous. In degree of Puissance effective is to enforceable As disingenuous is to lying in the same press conference that featured this obfuscation through doubtful synonymy however Rea Gan gave to the English speaking world the imprimatur that legitimized previously taboo phrase. I told you All the truth that first Day he insisted referring to the revelation of the diversion of arms profits to the contras after that everything hit Thefan this is one of the great examples of punchline English along with so who s counting ready when you Are who s minding the store and ont make some will insist it s your turn in the barrel fib this category but thai line of naval origin is not widely enough understood until now the presence of a scatological noun just before the familiar hit the Faa has restricted its written use the Brendan s sinful substitution of the simple everything for the offensive word changes its approval rating from r to pm. Lexicographers have been filing citations on this phrase for years. When 1 gingerly touched his subject Ihrcke years ago t did not have the courage to report that lexicographer . Oilman of Merriam Webster explained Llic origin in a Story that dealt with a Man who mistakenly took an exhaust fan above a barroom As a suitable receptacle for defecation following which the bartender asked the Man returning Down stain the question referred to by Reagan in connection with the juror caused by the diversion of arms profits to the contras in Nicaragua. Oilman reported even though the Story was based on highly improbable assumptions for one that the fan was working in reverse the image evoked was vivid enough to have won itself a Small place in the As the text of the press conference released by the while House indicates the president did some efficacious Tuph Mizing in Midson Tench and thereby effectuated a change in the acceptance level of the phrase making previous taboos unenforceable. Gondolier of metaphor whenever a newsworthy event is held in a colourful plat the hounds of metaphor begin baying in the minds of headline writers. When Venice became the focal Point of color stories by a press corps drawn up in what Winston Churchill called vast cumbrous array we braced ourselves for quotations from Shakespeare s the merchant of Ven ice and were not disappointed by this obvious stuff. Literary allusion watchers however waited for resuscitation of the phrase death in Venice which was the English translation of the title of a 1912 Novella by Thomas Mann. However with the omnipresent threat of terrorists the word death was too Strong for feature use in a Light vein. Dearth in Venice was i thought Laboured. The problem was solved by Joseph Laitin ombudsman of the Washington Post in a piece about the need to assign so Many reporter to the economic confabulation. His title which wins this year s "0 sole Mio award for Zippy headline writing debt in Laitin on old time press agent Best known for his Bible thumping instructions 10 astronauts undoubtedly took this construction from the borrowed headline for a 1936 critical review by Frank s. Nugent of the new York times. Directed at the fiery playwright Clif Ford Odds the headline criticized his film inc Gen eral died at Dawn for lacking the familiar spark Odets where is thy sting across1 Pilot s we incl 6 Johnson or for time 12 Hodge .podg?13 wan Lenobl 14 moslem marriage 15 elegant 41 Sweet secretion 42 lists ofcandidate.1 4s com about by chance49 proceed 51 it might be mind 52 no Lump prizes Saddle de judge3 shopping old 4 arizon Indian 5 defeat sin an Flection t goddess of victory8 Chews the by ency 19 me kate22 received throw Rathe ear 24 pull �jong25 miss gardner28 City in a i Irani de Gen Ciyi usurpation 54 pints out 8 attempt of Power in Horwhat to usurps mine s ,.� control air slut a old times 1c Row that20 signs archaic w to up for 57 Spanish Rome to lie race mural list use Adosa 21 travellers Down 170oofrneetl i p us Otto Hie dcpp23 Agnus Jun _ 24 deletes Soin Rynn to. �i28 Cut off Sola ton t1" Al short31 eggs to cicero32 willed Silken Hrlic 34 Liidi Vivod 35 fair Slick 37 grab forty inks 39 actor Howard 27 pay at Tention 29 one lifetime3d one Type nrulk33 argonauts patroness 36 hate38 pome fru Itsjo trap 42 Pierce with a dagger43brmd Tab rec 44 word before 6-39 the far Side no no no what Are you doing. 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