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: Althouse

"My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize."

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is worried about Guam, and, oh, is he getting mocked for stupidity.

Advice to Johnson: Just say you didn't mean it literally. It's obviously a figure of speech. Guam is a tiny island, and it's a vivid image to picture it tipping and capsizing. If you'd used a more well-worn image ? like, I'm afraid the island will be crushed by over population ? no one would visualize a crushing. You chose a fresh metaphor, and your listeners couldn't handle the task of digesting it.

Full post as published by Althouse on April 01, 2010 (boomark / email).