Monday, December 6, 2010

Warefare (for Warfare)

Wares are things that get sold to people and so, in many cases, are wars. Furthermore, those who get sold this bellicose bill of goods often end up suffering from a serious case of buyer's remorse. Soldiers, in particular, pay a very high price. According to the HBO documentary Wartorn: 1861–2010, the price of warfare on the combatants themselves was usually termed "hysteria," "melancholia," or "insanity" during the Civil War, "shell-shock" during World War I, and "battle fatigue" during World War II. Today it's referred to as "PTSD" (post-traumatic stress disorder). There were 14 examples of today's typo in the OhioLINK database this morning. Warefare... What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

(Soldier boiling his rations, National Geographic Magazine, 1917, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

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