Early in John Kass’s scintillating review of our chief prosecutor in our beloved County of Cook, he identifies the linguistic atrocity she committed in her round of self-exculpation:
At Rainbow/PUSH the other day, Foxx prattled on about how she recused herself because of these conflicts, but that’s nonsense. In reality she did no such thing. Her office admitted her so-called “recusal” was only in “the colloquial sense.”
She was KIDDING! How did such an unserious person get to be our chief prosecutor?!
The atrocity? She utterly misused language. First, who except after a few shooters at a party with a smirk or even friendly smile lips will talk about recusing himself from, say, some jocular debate that has ensued in the course of alcoholic jocularity?
Words MEAN SOMETHING, my old speech teacher would tell us young Jesuits. You say what you mean and mean what you say, honoring all the possible twists and turn of nuance, sardonic remarks, saying one thing OBVIOUSLY meaning another, for effect, you know, to get a laugh?
Answer is nobody.
That gotten off chest, this writer refers you back to Kass and his serious analysis of the old vs. new aspects of the Rainbow outburst of this Saturday.
Blithe Spirit 