Sarah Palin's "Dead Zone" Moment

[mijopo]

Sarah Palin's chances of winning the 2012 presidential election are now, effectively, zero, not that they'd ever been high.  There's still an outside chance that she could win the nomination, although I doubt it, but I'd bet a lot of money with really lousy odds against her winning the election.   I think it was pretty clear that she was far too

Comments

[whoasksfinds]

wasn't it also reported that ms. gifford did die?

[mijopo]

Yes, NPR reported that she'd died, and then quickly corrected.

[whoasksfinds]

perhaps palin was responding to those reports?

[mijopo]

I suppose, but I'd be surprised if NPR is her primary news source, but even so, I just found it odd that she left it as "condolences" after it was clear she was alive.

[whoasksfinds]

if that confuses you, you're dumb

[mijopo]

Try searching on "express condolences" on Google, let me know how far into your search results you are before you find it being used to express sorrow or grief over an injury or something other than a death. It's used almost exclusively to express sympathy for a death. Palin either couldn't be bothered to get the information right or change her FB post when she realized it was wrong.

[gunslnger]

You can't change FB posts.

[mijopo]

Yes, you can. You can't edit status updates, but you can edit notes.

[mijopo]

No, my position is that it's almost always used only in a situation in which a death has occurred, I was suggesting that you look at actual usage.

[mrbogey]

Perhaps you should realize English is a richer language than you currently deign it to be.

[mijopo]

Of course it is, but we also don't get to make up private languages.

[mrbogey]

So the accepted usage of words by Palin is just fine.

[mijopo]

I'm just saying that it's very hard to find examples of situations in which people use 'condolences' in a situation in which a death hasn't occurred. I agree, though, that to do so would be consistent with some dictionary definitions of the term, but there I think the dictionaries fail to capture its de facto meaning, at least in most parts of North America. But, yes, insofar as the dictionary supports the broader usage, maybe I'm being unfair in imposing what I'm perceiving to be its accepted usage.