With Hurricane Ike (watch out Tina) bearing down on Texas, the National Weather Service released the following warning, “Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes may face certain death”.
A bit ambigous don’t you think?
In fact, I think that warning can be self-applied to almost any situation
Readers of my blog may face certain death. That statement, while not likely to go far in increasing readership, is not necessarily untrue. I am sure there is a term for that literary scare tactic.
We can question the usage but it does sound pretty good if you are trying to evacuate an unheeding public from grave personal danger. An act that, if not for the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, I would be advising against. I heard one person say, in preparation for the “certain death”, he filled up the bathtub with water, made sure the generator is working, and stocked up on lots of beer.
Sounds better than certain death, doesn’t it?