The rebranding of the struggle formerly known as 'the war on terror' is having some dramatic results, it seems. From the other side of that struggle there have been reciprocal rebrandings. No more beheadings, only acts of 'cephalic attrition'. Joe Queenan has the story:
A Taliban spokesman reached in Pakistan said that the new phrasing was being implemented as a way of eliminating the negative associations triggered by more graphic terminology. "The term 'beheading' has a quasi-medieval undertone that we're trying to get away from," he explained. "The term 'cephalic attrition' brings the Taliban into the 21st century. It's not that we disapprove of beheadings; it's just that the word no longer meshes with the zeitgeist of the era..."