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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
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Euphemisms from iraq war

For an article I'm writing, does anybody know who coined these expressions?

A)pre-emptive self-defense
B)weapons of mass deception
  

Top answer

[nq:1]For an article I'm writing, does anybody know who coined these expressions? A)pre-emptive self-defense[/nq] You have at least four strings to search on, combinations of preemptive vs. pre-emptive, and defense vs.

  • [nq:1]For an article I'm writing, does anybody know who coined these expressions?
  • A)pre-emptive self-defense[/nq] You have at least four strings to search on, combinations of preemptive vs.
  • pre-emptive, and defense vs.
  • defence.
  • I'm not sure whether the hyphen after self is firm.
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2 Answers
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[nq:1]For an article I'm writing, does anybody know who coined these expressions? A)pre-emptive self-defense[/nq]
You have at least four strings to search on, combinations of preemptive vs. pre-emptive, and defense vs. defence. I'm not sure whether the hyphen after self is firm.
Under "Preemptive self-defence" the earliest post that Google Advanced Group Search (the Usenet archives) gives
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[nq:2]For an article I'm writing, does anybody know who coined these expressions?[/nq]
(snip)
[nq:2]B)weapons of mass deception[/nq]
I see posts using "...distraction" back to Apr 1997, mostly in reference to the HBO movie of the same name (screenplay by Larry Gelbart):

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