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"Casualties" - What's So CASUAL About It?
When I read a word I'm unfamiliar with, I tend to look for the "root" word. Where's the beef? The substance of it? If you understand the meaning of the root word, you can often get the gist of it. The general idea.
In the case of "casualties", if I was unfamiliar with it, I would draw a horribly wrong conclusion based on it's "root".
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Comments (5)
George Carlin has a wonderful bit on the evolution of the word "shell shock," a phrase that perfectly conveys the horrors or war, to the word "P.T.S.D.," which is a hollow word, used mostly to sheild newspaper readers from the realities of war.
If someone can find a youtube clip or mp3 of the skit, you would do well to link it here in comments.
June 11, 2008 8:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's an idea...may be off-point (or not?) but deserves another look-
"There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue. Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car. Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder. I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I'll betcha. I'll betcha." George Carlin
June 11, 2008 8:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can my sister get an Amen?
Casual, from American Heritage's online dictionary (and please pay special attention to the very last definition):
1. happening by chance; fortuitous: a casual meeting.
2. without definite or serious intention; careless or offhand; passing: a casual remark.
3. seeming or tending to be indifferent to what is happening; apathetic; unconcerned: a casual, nonchalant air.
4. appropriate for wear or use on informal occasions; not dressy: casual clothes; casual wear.
5. irregular; occasional: a casual visitor.
6. accidental: a casual mishap.
7. Obsolete. uncertain.
–noun 8. a worker employed only irregularly.
9. a soldier temporarily at a station or other place of duty, and usually en route to another station.
June 11, 2008 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is nothing casual about shell shock. There is nothing casual about war. Soldiers don't remember what "casual" feels like when they are constantly under pressure, scared for their lives and for the lives of their fellow soldiers, and just trying to survive.
There is no way in hell that Americans should take a casual approach to our occupation of Iraq. Those that still do need to be shell shocked.
June 11, 2008 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen to you, Lis. Amen to that.
June 11, 2008 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
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