Maybe you read, the other day, about a dog called Jesus (I guess because he liked the name) that started attacking people and had to be shot and killed. The authorities tried to capture the dog, and when that failed they tried a Taser, which also failed. The MSNBC article tells it this way:
Rockville Police and Neighborhood Services, meanwhile, made several attempts to capture Jesus using a capture pole. After hours of trying to capture him, police entered the home and used a taser gun to stun the dog, which did not phase the animal, according to police.Of course, what we’re going to do here is pick at the language: the word they’re looking for is faze, not phase. As a verb, phase means to sequence or synchronize. To faze is, according to American Heritage, “To disrupt the composure of; disconcert.” As an Americanism it dates from the 1820s, and ultimately comes to us from Old English fesian, to drive away.
Unfortunately, the MSNBC editors are out of phase with this one. But I suspect it doesn’t faze them at all.
Pointers to this fortnight’s blog carnivals:
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