Reply #4: Indeed, Sir [View All]

[The Magistrate]

The problem is a simple one.

For some, 'fraud' has become a word meaning not real chicanery, but 'an outcome I dislike and did not expect'. Since this meaning is not as yet very widespread, and even when understood properly may mean different things to different people, it often leads to confusion when the word 'fraud' is employed. Many people think on encountering the word that the standard definition is being used by the speaker, when in fact, it is the new and limited usage only that the speaker had in mind. Translated into standard English, the rash of claims there was 'fraud' in the Democratic Primary in New Hampshire actually read "I was surprised by the outcome of the New Hampshire primary, and do not like the outcome of the New Hampshire primary, and wish the New Hampshire primary had had a different outcome, one I would have approved of myself." The temptation to compress all this down into one syllable is obvious....


"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightening and a lightening bug."