Update to the story posted yesterday, in case any bloggers don't speak German, or want to pass the message onto English speakers:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2815625.stm

http://www.mercerhr.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml?idContent=1084730

Language is supposed to make ideas clearer so that we can understand them. But when politicians such as Colin Powell, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair get hold of language, their aim is usually the opposite. That's how they persuade us to take ludicrous concepts seriously. Like the whole idea of a 'war on terrorism'. You can wage war against another country, or on a national group within your own country, but you can't wage war on an abstract noun. How do you know when you've won? When you've got it removed from the Oxford English Dictionary?

Full Story:
http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,901102,00.html

thx to
http://saltyt.twoday.net/