Sunday Rest: don't mention the war!

 As everyone knows, the Russian forces that have recently arrived in Ukraine in their tanks and armoured vehicles and warplanes, propelling bombs and ammunition in every direction including at residential buildings as they come, are not waging a war. 

Well, they can't be, can they: President Putin has ordered that the word war is not to be used in connection with the...continuing incident...on pain of fifteen years' imprisonment. 

Still, I understand that Mr Putin does not use the internet, and he has forced independent Russian television stations to close, so he might not understand quite what is happening.

Unfortunately for him, his are not the only words.

Still, let's be kind. What shall we call it?

Hostilities, criminality and wholesale murder, perhaps.

Sunday Rest: war. Word Not To Use Today If You Want To Be Kind To Poor Old Mr Putin. The word war comes from the Old Northern French werre. The Old High German form of this word was werra. Surprisingly, the word has only been around in English since the 1100s.