LizzieMaine
Bartender
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- Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
I'm reminded of Rick Steves (the PBS travel guru) riffing on the Iranian manner of cursing. It was "death to the Shah," and "death to Israel" and "death to the United States." Steves told of riding through snarled traffic in a taxicab in Tehran when the driver shook his fist and said "death to the traffic."
Steves likened it to the American use of "damn." When we say "damn those kids," we don't mean we wish for them to suffer hellfire for all eternity. Indeed, we mean nothing of the sort. After all, who hasn't heard an American cabbie say "damn this traffic," which is every bit as non-literal (or nonsensical, if one allows for only one definition of the word) as wishing "death" to the traffic.
Likewise when we yell "KILL THE UMPIRE" we don't mean to actually murder him.
Well, most of us anyway.