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We blogged about good and bad apologies before,
making the point that "I'm sorry if people were offended" is one
trademark of a weaselly apology.
Benjamin Zimmer at Language Log hilariously observes
the "air quote" can be used effectively by baseball managers
to emphasise the non-apology nature of such constructions.
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And as a total coincidence, a radio host in Ulster
expressed July 4 wishes
that President Bush "rot in hell."
That was followed up by a "BBC spokesman" saying … wait for it
… "We apologise for any offence caused."
Not only weasels, you'll note, but they also spell funny. The article doesn't mention if any air quotes were used by anyone involved. (Via Instapundit.)
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Shelby Steele observes
that if you're going to sin in public, you'll be better off sinning into
your era's moral relativism instead of its puritanism, with two
presidential data points provided.
At the American Spectator, Paul Beston throws in
another couple data points from the world of baseball, one being the
air-quoting manager to which we referred above.
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Thomas Sowell takes
issue with last week's deification of Teddy Roosevelt
by Time magazine. After reading it, you may idly wonder
about the practicality of reconfiguring Mount Rushmore:
put Reagan up there, take Teddy down.
Jul
5
2006
URLs du Jour
2006-07-05