Huh, in American english, this sentence implies 39 deaths plus two injuries:
"Police say there are 39 casualties, with two people seriously injured."
But I guess Britians use "casualty" to mean "injury", as they later stated in the article that two were being treated for serious injuries, and 37 others have been released from the hospital.
It's good news that this wasn't fatal to anyone, given the nature of the event. Hopefully it's not as damaging to the environment as it seems.
Casualty *does* mean injury (including, but not limited to, death). Most Americans simply happen to be clueless. But when the US military -- people who know their casualties -- uses the term, they mean it in its proper sense. ("A casualty is defined as any member of the armed forces or certain civilians who are lost to their organization by reason of having been declared missing, missing in action, interned in a foreign country; captured, beleaguered. or besieged by a hostile force; detained in a foreign country against their will; wounded; injured; or deceased." -- http://www.defenselink.mil/privacy/notices/usaf/F036AFPCR.html, among other sources.)
Yow, you know, I was among the clueless on this point myself until a couple of years ago, when a situation not unlike this one made me realize the error of my ways ;)
From Latin cado, cadere, cecidi, casurus, "to fall". If you fall (and, you know, stay fallen), you're a casualty. And you can fall without being dead. One of those lovely cases where etymology sticks close to home :).
(Mind you, Latin had compounds of cado which were euphemisms for "die". But they were compounds! Those crucial prepositions...)
I noticed that, because I looked it up once I realized my misinterpretation in the article. The problem is that the word is misused in all American media, so even if you are a reasonably educated person you will be mislead when you read/listen to/watch the news (until you read bbc, which I suppose you should have been doing all along!)
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-11 02:33 pm (UTC)"Police say there are 39 casualties, with two people seriously injured."
But I guess Britians use "casualty" to mean "injury", as they later stated in the article that two were being treated for serious injuries, and 37 others have been released from the hospital.
It's good news that this wasn't fatal to anyone, given the nature of the event. Hopefully it's not as damaging to the environment as it seems.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-11 03:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-11 06:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-11 08:33 pm (UTC)(Mind you, Latin had compounds of cado which were euphemisms for "die". But they were compounds! Those crucial prepositions...)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-11 11:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-12 06:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-12 11:13 am (UTC)