CNN effectively watered down its dire predictions for Hurricane Ike with this rather meaningless phrase: Forecasters warn Ike may bring "certain death" (emphasis mine).Because there is no way to be "a little bit dead," I guess most everything that can cause death can also cause "certain" death, including Hurricane Ike, weapons of mass destruction and trans fats.
Thanks to Sarah for spotting this say-nothing headline!
3 comments:
I think you have it wrong here. The phrase "certain death" in this particular context means death is not merely a probable outcome of not evacuating, like for most hurricanes, but an inevitable outcome. Check out definition 3 of "certain" at dictionary.com.
(edit.)
However, upon second viewing of your article, the phrase "Forecasters warn Ike may bring "certain death"" is certainly inane--because of the indefinite "may" followed by the definite "certain". The original phrase "certain death" issued by FEMA is correct, though.
I realize now this is exactly what you said. Maybe I should take more time reading your article. :S
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