merle_: ground zero

Merle (

merle_) wrote,
@ 2008-04-20 11:00:00

Current mood:	confused by rhetoric
Current music:	Machines of Loving Grace, "Bikini Atoll"

ground zero
Since when did "ground zero" start to refer to things other than bombs, especially nuclear ones, that go off on the surface of the earth? It confused me to hear that the Catholic pope was visiting ground zero today, but that he was still in the United States. Probably I have just been living under an enlightened shield of media ignorance for the last few years.

(Post a new comment)

	eryn_ 2008-04-20 06:49 pm UTC (link)
	The World Trade Center collapse was about the same effect as a bomb. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	merle_ 2008-04-20 07:04 pm UTC (link)
	But the planes hit hundreds of feet above ground level. Traditional usage of the term suggests it is where the bomb hit ground. Now, if the pope was hovering in midair far above the crowd below, I would be impressed. ;-) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	vampyrecat 2008-04-20 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	We got a Bill Maher book on tape to listen to in the car, and he was talking about referring to the twin towers site in Manhattan as "ground zero". He argues that it shouldn't be called ground zero because as tragic as it was, it was not on the same scale as Hiroshima or Nagasaki. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	vampyrecat 2008-04-20 06:52 pm UTC (link)
	Meh. I think I got his argument wrong... it was something about the Pentagon being more serious. I was driving and thus only paying partial attention to the tape. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	merle_ 2008-04-20 07:06 pm UTC (link)
	Probably best to pay more attention to the road while driving anyway! ;-) The Pentagon could have been more serious, because taking out a collector of information is much worse. But the twin towers were much more public and "spectacular". I suppose calling it "ground 1,000" (or whatever the impact height was) would not be terribly effective... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	en_ki 2008-04-20 08:22 pm UTC (link)
	If it were a bomb, "ground zero" would be the point on the ground below the explosion. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	merle_ 2008-04-20 11:37 pm UTC (link)
	Huh. I would have thought it would only apply to cases where the explosion happened on the surface, since an explosion 999mi overhead is quite different from one at ground level. But the internet agrees with you. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	en_ki 2008-04-20 07:06 pm UTC (link)
	Ground Zero™ is the brand name of the Cortlandt St. terrorism theme park in lower manhattan. I hear a Dairy Queen Blizzard™ isn't actually a kind of snowstorm either. Edited at 2008-04-20 07:08 pm UTC (Reply to this)(Thread)

	merle_ 2008-04-20 07:16 pm UTC (link)
	A terrorism theme park? Cool! In the same way that many museums, aquariums, and observatories have converted themselves into places grade school classes take field trips to, I wonder if the same will happen with Ground Zero™? "Daddy, mommy, guess what I learned on our field trip today? I learned how to make a pipe bomb! Here, let me show you..." (Reply to this)(Parent)

	jeffpalmatier 2008-04-21 01:23 am UTC (link)
	Wow, this post is really ground zero for talking about misuses of the term ground zero. ducks and quickly runs away (Reply to this)(Thread)

	merle_ 2008-04-22 01:19 pm UTC (link)
	Foolish mortal, there are no bombs on the internet! looks around in case I'm mistaken (Reply to this)(Parent)

	grenacia 2008-04-21 03:13 am UTC (link)
	In my old neighborhood there is a dance club (goth, metal, bondage nights, small concerts) called "Ground Zero". They are at ground level and do have a lot of hazard symbol decorations. But to my knowledge they are not the site of any real explosion. (Reply to this)

	kmg_365 2008-04-21 12:47 pm UTC (link)
	Probably I have just been living under an enlightened shield of media ignorance for the last few years. That is most likely the case. The site of the World Trade Center has been called ground zero for years. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	merle_ 2008-04-22 01:18 pm UTC (link)
	Go ignorance! At least I saved a few neurons for more important things... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kmg_365 2008-04-22 02:42 pm UTC (link)
	The funny thing is, the media never refers to it as "so-called Ground Zero." It's just simply "Ground Zero". I bet the so-called War on Terrorism and the so-called Surge are green with envy. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…