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July 12, 2005
Terminology

Eugene Volokh and Jim Lindgren of the Volokh Conspiracy offer critiques of the term "homicide bomber."

This has irritated me for quite a long while, too.

• "Bomber" by itself implies "homicide," which makes "homicide bomber" redundant. Are there bombings which aren't meant to kill people and/or destroy things?

• The distinguishing characteristic of the attacks Fox News (et al.) call "homicide bombings" is the death of the bomber in the act of carrying out the bombing, making the use of the adjective "suicide" both descriptive and accurate when applied to the noun "bomber."

• Making reporters and news anchors say "homicide bombing" just makes them look stupid.

And now that I think on it, I've posted about this before.

Posted by Russ at 04:07 PM, July 12, 2005 in Terrorism

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Comments

I prefer homicide bomber myself. How about terrorist bomber? Or for the BBC, "opressed insurgent bomber"

Posted by: Ith at July 12, 2005 06:19 PM