Euphemism of the day: concertina wire

Appeler ces barbelés meurtriers aux lames aiguisées comme des lames de rasoir fil accordéon est un euphémisme quelque peu extrême.

From the Washington Post (reg. req’d I think; you can also try to access the article via bugmenot).

National Guard crews are setting up double rows of coiled razor wire in front of the tracks and will continue to do so until the fencing blocks the ravaged coast for 30 miles.

The razor wire will block the beach fronts in Long Beach, Pass Christian, Gulfport and Biloxi, which are devastated not only south of the tracks, but also well north of them.

In a region that already looks and feels like a war zone, the coiled razor wire is not proving popular. […]

“We don’t know what washed up from the sea, from the Gulf,” [Col. B. Joe] Spraggins said at a news briefing Saturday. The area may hold bodies of hurricane victims.

“We need to be able to find them without having their remains displayed to the public,” he said. He also said that the razor wire — he prefers to call it by its prettier name, concertina wire — protects what is left of residents’ belongings by thwarting potential looters.

There’s also a photo next to the article. And here’s another one, which is not behind a registration wall.

All I can say is that you need a hell of a pair of gloves to play that concertina.

[Incidentally, the German word for razor wire is NATO-Draht (”NATO wire”). I haven’t been able to find a French term other than the generic fil barbelé, often found as the plural barbelés.]


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