A Ration of Words

There are a few words that are used in the news these days that I do not believe what they think they mean. Here are some examples.

Rationing: In the current health care debate there are claims that a government run system will necessarily lead to reationing health care. This is countered on the other side with the notion that health care is already rationed in two ways: insurance companies deny claims under certain circumstances leading to no service being performed, and people who can't afford health care don't buy it. While there is a point to the former, in the common usage of the word "rationing" the second isn't a valid example. the common view of rationing is that it involves someone limiting how much you can buy. Taking World War II as an example, the ration stamp system limited how much of particular commodities you could buy regardless of whether you could afford them and regardless of availability in the store. There's a difference between deciding not to pay the price for something and being told that you are not allowed to buy it.

Responsibility: Frequently terrorist groups are quoted as taking responsibility for acts such as murders and bombings. And, golly, isn't it great they stood up and showed such responsibility! English has a better word - it's called blame.

Execution: The news has taken to calling acts of murder, particularly ones performed with a pistol at extreme close range, as "executions" or as "execution style". This conflates an act of murder with an act performed by the State as punishment for a crime. We wouldn't say a mugger fined his victim; we don't say a kidnapper incarcerated his captive until the bail was paid. I'm unaware of any state in the US that uses a pistol at close range as the chosen method of execution. It's time to move "excecution" back to the legal realm (unless you're talking about executing a process, which is different).