Comments on: I don’t mean to be a pedant but… http://stuartmeldrum.co.uk/blog/2007/05/13/i-dont-mean-to-be-a-pedant-but/ Technological Education, it's an adventure! Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:39:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: stuart http://stuartmeldrum.co.uk/blog/2007/05/13/i-dont-mean-to-be-a-pedant-but/#comment-79561 stuart Thu, 17 May 2007 19:11:39 +0000 http://stuartmeldrum.co.uk/blog/2007/05/13/i-dont-mean-to-be-a-pedant-but/#comment-79561 I'm not convinced, though I'll conceed that 'less than lethal' maybe isn't right either. Potentially lethal would be better. Lethal means to cause death, or being enough to cause death. You are only ever dead or not dead - there's no halfway house. So you can't have something that is less lethal than something else. If it kills it is lethal, if it doesn't kill then it is not lethal. In the case of a taser it may kill or it may not, this means it is potentially lethal. It might impart a lethal shock, but that shock is no less lethal than a bullet might have been. I’m not convinced, though I’ll conceed that ‘less than lethal’ maybe isn’t right either. Potentially lethal would be better.

Lethal means to cause death, or being enough to cause death. You are only ever dead or not dead - there’s no halfway house. So you can’t have something that is less lethal than something else. If it kills it is lethal, if it doesn’t kill then it is not lethal.

In the case of a taser it may kill or it may not, this means it is potentially lethal. It might impart a lethal shock, but that shock is no less lethal than a bullet might have been.

]]> By: David Russell http://stuartmeldrum.co.uk/blog/2007/05/13/i-dont-mean-to-be-a-pedant-but/#comment-79559 David Russell Thu, 17 May 2007 19:01:48 +0000 http://stuartmeldrum.co.uk/blog/2007/05/13/i-dont-mean-to-be-a-pedant-but/#comment-79559 No. He means 'less lethal' as in 'less lethal than a gun'. Tasers are not 'less than lethal' because they have a very real risk of causing death or permanent injury (and have done so many times in the US). It wasn't a mistake, 'less lethal' has its own meaning. No. He means ‘less lethal’ as in ‘less lethal than a gun’. Tasers are not ‘less than lethal’ because they have a very real risk of causing death or permanent injury (and have done so many times in the US). It wasn’t a mistake, ‘less lethal’ has its own meaning.

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