Tuesday, May 30, 2006
I'm always amused when I hear of the publication of "graphic images of violence", say, from Abu Ghraib prison, using "graphic" in the sense of "detailed, realistic, unsparing". Aren't all images graphic? The speakers are taking an expression, "graphic description" (i.e., a verbal description so realistic, detailed, and unsparing, that it's like looking at a picture) and analogizing it to images. But such analogizing is not always appropriate. You can't forget the original meaning of the word....
# posted by the Commando Etymologist @ 5/30/2006 11:06:00 PM 
