European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Shooting Down a no Fly zone As Pentagon Ese William saf1re on language t the end of desert storm Saddam Hus skin was denied the right to Send Iraq s aircraft into the areas Over the embryonic Kurdistan above the 36th parallel or Quot to threaten rebellious shiites below the 32nd parallel. Those areas were promptly dubbed no Fly zones by Anonymous speakers of Pentagon Ese and the curious locution was picked up a uncritically at first a by the Media. When the iraqi dictator moved surface to air missiles into one of the proscribed regions no Fly zone exploded into common usage. But discomfort with the phrase was shown in maps published in the new York times one called it an air exclusion zone and a couple of Days later a no flight zone. In the text of articles the conversational zone where flights Are banned was tried. Ultimately the decision was made to use no Fly zone but to put it in quotation Marks thereby noting its Slang or bureaucratic origin. Quot no Fly is an unusual formation a says Fred Mish editorial chief at Merriam Webster. A the verb Fly is being used As an attributive noun modifying zone i dirty jokes Grimy floors to soiled sheets Tony Kornhiser a Type of functional shift or perhaps a rare grammatical pattern. Ordinarily you a expect to see a participle or a Gerund there a flying not Fly a As in no parking zone.�?�. Nobody not Cven the most bureaucratic traffic cop says no Park zone. Other no verb construe tons use words that can be construed As verbs or nouns As in no Knock authority or no Load Mutual funds. Ornithologists have also used the verb Fly As an attributive noun modifier Fly Way is a Century old term for the pattern of migrating Birds. Although the molasses Laden shoo Fly Pic offers an interesting parallel my guess is that no Fly was coined on the analogy of no go Pentagon Ese for Quot not a suitable for proceeding Quot the verb go is treated As a noun and has even come to draw an article Quot of Gridley that s a go Quot. A similar military usage is Nofire line defined by the dictionary of military. Terms As a a line Short of which artillery or ships do not fire on targets except on request of the supported commander but beyond which they May fire at any time without danger to Friendly  zone has become a popular word outstripping Region area District or Belt the meaning of its greek Root. Baseball has its strike zone football its zone defense and end zone basketball its zone press. Teachers Point to a drug free zone and students like to zone out or fall asleep. Every time zone has its. Safety zones the military likes killing zone and demilitarized zone which is Doz for Short it is inordinately pleased with the no Fly  we drop the quotation Marks and accept. The functionally shifty verb As Standard usage let s wait although air exclusion zone is pretentious and misleading a Wco re not talking about a vacuum no flight zone with flight doing the usual modifying work of an attributive noun is readily understandable Standard English. In my Book for the time being at least no Fly is a no  let me advert Here to the phrasing of an apology George Sleph Nopoulos inadvertently miss peaks. To reporters made by George Steph Nopoulos the a new White House communications chief. Bill Clinton claimed never to have been asked about normalization of relations with Saddam Hussein when this was shown to be wrong the press aide said his Boss a a inadvertently forgot that he had been asked that specific  quo Verteree in latin is Quot turn and is Quot to to advert is a to turn attention to a As every advertiser knows. The adjective inadvertent originally meant a heedless inattentive Quot the predominant sense now is  the adverb inadvertently thus covers a mistake with innocence it was caused by Lack of attention rather than malice. But while you can inadvertently injure or inadvertently stumble you cannot ind. Vert entry forget. That is either redundant or recalls the existence of the opposite a of intentionally forgetting a which politicians have been known to do. Tho new York times. Once again we visit the War Between the sexes. Today topic is residential Hygiene. The other night my Friend Walt was. Hosting a poker game. Walt is no longer married a condition that becomes apparent Sven you smell the sponge in his Kitchen sink a which you can probably do right now from w Here you Are sitting. Walt does not go to extreme lengths to tidy up for company. He left it he Small piles of dust in the Corners the Rotten fruit on the counter top the caked on prego sauce on the fun it or and the newspapers on the Kitchen and dining room tables. Quot you saving these for any particular purpose a i asked Wall. _ a i got a lot of Reading to catch up on a be said. Quot i guess so Quot 1 said holding up a paper with the headline Reagan fires air traffic controllers. Men can do disagreeable stuff if they want to. Illey can take a knife and slice a fish from head to Tail and scoop out the guts with their Bare hands. But men will not take the Hairball out of the bathroom sink. The other Day after getting in touch with my feminine Side i went on a cleaning Binge. I bought an. Aerosol can of foam Cleanser and sprayed it All Over. I made the fatal error of spraying it on the Mirror. When i went to wipe it off it left a Cloudy film you could t get off with a sandblaster. The Mirror is now ruined and i done to consider this my fault. I was doing a Good deed by cleaning the bathroom and i bought something specifically labelled a Quot bathroom  there should have been a note attached that said a Tony do not buy this product. You arc too stupid to use . Take towels. A Man will use the same Bath Towel forever. He figures i take a Shower. My body is then clean. I wipe off my clean body with a Towel then drop it on the floor. Therefore the Towel remains hygienically pure for Infinity. 1 asked my Friend Richie when do you change towels. A when the old one has a big Hole Quot he said. He then called me Back to add this a i forgot about the dog. Ill change the Towel if i use it to dry off the dog a few times. Ill let Ili Edds use it a few times after that a but not  its pretty much the same with sheets. A Guy will sleep on the same Sheet for of six to eight months a or until he becomes concerned that the color has changed in the Middle. Then he can turn it Over and get four More months out of it. Sure lying Down on a new Crisp Cool Sheet is a delightful feeling. But you can get that same feeling by just opening the window. Men Are always fascinated when they go to their mothers House and see 32 sheets in the Linen closet. What can she be thinking who a coming Over the Dallas cowboys the most anybody needs is two sheets one on the bed and one to replace it. Man about town Chip Muldoon has narrowed it even further a it Only takes a couple of hours to Wash and dry a Sheet Quot he says. A so i do it in the afternoon when in a not using my bed. If i get tired i Nap on the  a. A towels sheets dishes. If there were no women in the world one thing that i am certain of a aside from the fact that there would be no reason for anyone to Ever take a Shower a is that the finc China Industry would not exist. All plates bowls serving trays and even punch bowls would be made out of cardboard this is because men done to Wash. Men throw out and buy new. Cost is not a problem. Men would simply Factor into their budget $260 a week for a paper  a woman i know complains that her husband never picks up his socks. A the drops them All Over the House Quot she says a Why can the pick them up and put them in the hamper Quot the answer is simple he is making a pile. This is High Art for the male gender. Men love to make piles however men done to sort. Nor do they fold. This starts in Early childhood when boy children go into the backyard and make a big pile of dirt a half of which they eat a and girl children respond by making a face and saying a  Quot piles Are part of the male Birthright. Its a Hunting and gathering response a an instinct like Channel surfing to find naked women. In my room i have piles of clothes on the chair the bed and the top of the Cedar Chest. I Haven t worn some of these clothes in years. Its possible they Arentt even my clothes a they May have come Writh the House. But being a creature of habit like most men i can to imagine my room without them. So when i go to sleep i gently move the pile from the bed onto the chair. Or when i want to sit on the chair i gently move that pile of clothes to the bed. In this w a i suppose i could be called a nurturer. Noting How much time i have spent through the years moving the piles a woman once asked me Why i simply done to put the clothes in my Drucis. How naive. Then where would i nut All my paper plates or Zavors 5/noca