we're so charming & humanitarian

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011105/us/attacks_daisy_cutter_1.html

Ah, euphemisms! "Daisy Cutter". A cute little bomb that prepares
flowers for display in vases.

When I was an active pilot, I had to be aware of military routes,
places that, if not forbidden, were known to be dangerous because of
heavy military practice traffic. I remember reading that the name of
one of those routes in my area, "Oil Burner", had been deemed
politically incorrect. Mind you, the amount of oil consumed did not
diminish, but the name was changed to "Olive Branch". Much better!

How about the euphemism "carpet bomb"? I see it used in the news every
day (because the U.S. is doing it now), and I know what it means, but I
search in vain for an explanation for those who may not know. Such a
soft sound: lying on a carpet, or bombing a carpet, it almost seems
benign, but of course it means bombing the holy poop out of every square
inch of earth over a huge area, as might be covered by a giant
wall-to-wall carpet. Wall-to-wall death.

It seems very strange to me, what terms are defined regularly and what
terms are not. About ten times a day I read yet another story about
anthrax, which goes to great lengths to clarify, "anthrax is a
bacterium that can kill its victim, and is considered to be an agent of
biological warfare, blah blah." Yeah, I just read that five minutes
ago! Now tell me the meaning of "carpet bomb" some time, would ya?

JdL