from haditha to cross-lighting

barbara o'brien offers the clearest take on the events at haditha and their public-ation that i've seen. she's linked in all the relevant reporting as well, an invaluable resource.

then this from "clif" at "outside the tent":

Yesterday, I expressed dismay that an article in the Birmingham News would refer to a KKK cross-burning as a "cross-lighting ceremony." Seems that this isn’t the first time that reporter Kent Faulk referred to a cross-burning as a "cross-lighting ceremony." Not surprisingly, "cross-lighting ceremony" is the preferred usage of the KKK.

taking euphemism to new heights. fortunately it's one language usage that appears to have gained little currency in civilized public discourse: a lexis-nexis search of major papers going back to 1980 turns up only 16 appearances of the term as opposed to 858 for "cross burning" and "klan" over the same period. ("cross burning" by itself yields over 1000).