MTM vs MTR: Words matter

by: CA Berkeley WV

Mon Apr 13, 2009 at 13:08:43 PM EDT

Some don't like me re-branding the estate tax as the Paris Hilton Tax. [The DHinMI parallel--"I didn't' read it but I will respond"] I did not like Frank Lutz and Company re-branding it as the Death Tax. Now we have another re-branding. Ken Ward points this out in the Saturday WaPo article [sorry, blond_moment, visited the relatives for Easter, hard to boycott]. I was asked about this topic, and if the word smiths are in action, it must mean that the majority doesn't like the idea of removing mountains.

But I was disappointed that David fell into the same trap as The Associated Press (both its local bureau here in Charleston and folks in Washington and elsewhere in AP), in adopting the industry’s term “mountaintop mining,” which is a phrase made up by the coal industry (and some friends in regulatory agencies) to avoid the more nasty-sounding “mountaintop removal.” This term “mountaintop mining,” is not mentioned in the federal strip mining law or its regulations. It’s unfortunate that it’s catching on with the media.

Mountain. Top. Removal.

Anybody up for checking tags where it may count? It is not what you say, it is what they hear.