Zero-sum game
‘If we use words, there is a very grave danger of their being misinterpreted.” So said American politico HR Haldeman, decrying the perils of semantics – just before being imprisoned for the 1970s Watergate scandal.
To be fair, although the court didn’t believe it, it may be that when the president’s man told his henchpersons to “investigate” and “keep an ear to the ground”, they heard “burgle” and “wiretap”. Semantics are in the ear of the beholder, whatever it may say in the dictionary.
A half-century on, it’s dismaying to find that this entire country has been at cross purposes over pandemic semantics for the
