https://archive.ph/1d2vu

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    17 days ago

    Embedded in their autopsies was their own unstated faith that they could have done better.

    Language changes - I know that - but I still hate the word "autopsy" for this. The word "post mortem" already existed for this purpose.

    Members of Biden's clan continue to stoke the delusion that its paterfamilias would have won the election, and some of his advisers feared that he might publicly voice that deeply misguided view.

    The debate showed that Biden was a wrecked old man who reeked of loser stink. Do they really not understand that? Biden would have lost California.

    • BodyBySisyphus [he/him]
      ·
      17 days ago

      post mortem

      I mean if we're being prescriptivist about it, "autopsy" is preferable because it's a noun while postmortem is an adjective, the terms "autopsy" and "postmortem examination" being synonyms.

      gross

      And I do kind of like the ring of "autopsy" because it evokes a sense of pulling all the organs out and sticking them in jar full of formaldehyde for display and to poke at in the future, because if 2016 is any indication the examination is going to last a good long while. Maybe we should start calling it a "mummification."

      • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
        ·
        17 days ago

        Autopsy wasn't used that way until the GOP started to use it (in the 2010s?) I assume they thought "postmortem" sounded too nerdy and democratic. Also postmortem can be used all by itself as in "The postmortem indicated that..."