from Bay Citizen story today on the San Bruno gas explosion and fire that killed four and burned several dozen homes:
"Those who called Crestmoor home -- many for decades -- know that nothing here will ever be the same."
For example, from now on in Crestmoor mastodons will roam the streets and nothing will ever seem to grow. Nights will be full of the sounds of moans and screams. And the spoken language will probably be Hungarian.
This raises again the misuse of 'tragic'. This awful accident wasn't tragic -- unless it turns out that, say, one of the dead people was in charge of pipeline safety for PG&E. I would argue this might be a calamity, but tragedy needs the involvement of destiny or fate, damnit.
Other words proscribed by Tom in this coverage:
-- nightmare
-- heartbreak
Do I have to do everything around here?
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