I'll start with a bit of a rant, but will finish with something nice!
My rant has been induced by the sudden popularity of the verb to REDACT, occasioned by it's selection to describe the wholesale censoring of MP's expenses before Joe Public gets a shufty at them.
The act of redacting in this instance is as reptilian as it is unexpected, but my point is a wider one and it is this - who gets the job of scanning dictionaries for governments to select arcane, seldom used (if irritatingly perfectly good English) words to obfuscate matters...and why?
I'm pretty well read and have a reasonable standard of English but had never heard of redaction before now. Sometimes the word isn't new to me, it just feels wrong e.g. "PROSECUTE a war" (US in Iraq meaning to go to war), EMBED a journalist (US in Iraq again, meaning to attach a journo to a military unit and thereby and control their activity/exposure). I'm sure that you have your own examples.
I don't have the answer, but if the purpose is to detract from the matter it describes then it seems a bit self defeating. I don't believe that these words are used in the contexts I've quoted in normal parlance either; someone somewhere must be sent off to trawl through Chambers or somesuch volume to find these words. All I DO know is that it leaves me feeling more suspicious than ever...
Now the nice thing - about a year ago I was moved by my company to Ireland and I now live on the shores of Lough Foyle in County Donegal. I'm very lucky to have the lough (essentially a large seawater inlet) as my garden. Some months ago a grey heron regularly fished from the rocks beneath my window. As anthropomorphic as it is, he was named Baco by me (geddit?!). Anyway, the visits stopped and I often wondered what happened to him.
Well, today a heron is again fishing, using Baco's spot. Is it him? Haven't a clue to be honest, but I really hope so - and I'm welcoming him like an old friend anyway.
Today the sun is bright and warm in Donegal and the Lough glitters. I'm off work (first holiday this year), I've heard from a dear friend today for the first time in ages, I have the lovely anticipation of walking the hills with another old friend on Friday and Baco is back. Pretty supercalifragilisticexpealidocious doncha think?
Feel free to redact this blog entry without fear of prosecution. I'm embedding a picture I've just taken of Baco for fun...
