AJR  Letters
From AJR,   August/September 2008

Shameful Behavior   


All of you should stop and hang your heads in shame for 15 seconds for your misuse of the word "epicenter" in "Investigating the Dean" (April/May).

"Epicenter" is a geological term meaning on the surface of the earth, above the real center of an earthquake. In other words, it means "not the actual center."

If anyone wishes to be argumentative and claim, "Well, the word has come to mean the 'intense center,'" then the word should still be banned on the simple grounds that it has become a cliché.

Rod Thompson

Hilo, Hawaii

###