Mixed Messages
Question: I'm just an average American citizen trying to follow
President Bush's advice to lead my life normally. How can I do that when every
time I turn on the TV or open a newspaper, the top story is the latest Anthrax
mail delivery or FBI nationwide law enforcement "high alert"?
Answer: A defensive question. Clearly, you must choose a middle
road between life as you knew it before Sept. 11, 2001, and life as it exists
today. One one hand, you should take whatever news you get with a grain of salt,
remembering that the primary business of the media is to provide eyes for
advertisers. What the media seem to ignore is that, by extensively reporting
situations which pose a minimal threat to the population at large, they are also
playing into the hands of those who seek to terrorize us. On the other hand, you
probably should wear a hazmat suit whenever you go to your mailbox, especially if
you are a national media or political figure, bring a parachute as carryon
luggage whenever you fly, and stay on the ground floor of any high-rise
buildings you absolutely need to enter -- just to be sure.
Oh, Fudge!
Q: I'm wondering if you could answer a
quick question to settle a bet between my wife and myself. I came in the other
day and asked my kids "What the Sam Hill are you doing"? She said I
was saying it wrong, and it should be said "What the Sam Hell are you
doing"? That's were the bet lies -- is it Hell or Hill? If you could help
that would be great.
A: An euphemistic question. Tell your wife
to pay up. Your usage was correct. The term harkens to a more polite society of
yesteryear when people tended to substitute similar sounding words for
expletives in situations requiring delicacy, such as (ahem) addressing children. One
historian traces the origin of the saying to a genuine Sam Hill, the man behind
the Washington State Good Roads Association in 1901. A hard-surfaced road
running from the Mexican to Canadian borders along the Pacific Coast at the turn
of the century? What the Sam Hill was this man thinking?
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