By its name.....

Question

Hello everyone. I'm having a trouble figuring out how the phrase "by its name" should be interpreted. I run into a sentence which goes like "Why can't we call the enemy by its name?" and haven't been able to figure out what the sentence precisely means. PLease help, and thanks in advance.

RayH · Accepted Answer

VocaboboboHello everyone. I'm having a trouble figuring out how the phrase "by its name" should be interpreted. I run into a sentence which goes like "Why can't we call the enemy by its name?" and haven't been able to figure out what the sentence precisely means. PLease help, and thanks in advance.

It means to stop using euphemisms to try to be Politically Correct when referring to the enemy. For example, during the Regan administration there came a time when Regan gave a speech where he called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire"--its proper name by any reckoning. That was the one absolutely indispensable step in defeating it. Other steps were, of course, necessary but without that one indispensable step nothing else would have mattered. If you won't call your enemy by his name you can't defeat him.

By its name.....

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