(no subject)

[nonionay]

When I heard that Sarah Palin was "going rogue", the phrase didn't bother me. Apparently this is because "going rogue" is only an acceptable phrase in science fiction and fantasy (and spy thrillers). Which leads us to this paragraph from the entry at Language Log:

"It's interesting — but not surprising — that (some) political operatives think of their candidates in the way that others think of robots, animals, elves, and death-squad members: useful but dangerous creatures whose initiative needs to be carefully restrained by programming, training, or magical spells."

Comments

[bsdotrand.livejournal.com]

It didn't bother me either, possibly because I read too much SF&F as well but mostly 'cause anything she can do to screw up the McCain campaign is good in my book.

[magycmyste]

ooh, cool article!

I hadn't really thought about it before. To me, "go rogue" probably seems about as common as "What's for dinner?" More common, actually, since I don't live with anyone, and I'm normally the one preparing dinner.

But, as noted, that might be because I also read a lot of SF/fantasy.