The Atlantic

AOC’s Critics Are Pretending Not to Know How Language Works

A great deal of communication is based on metaphor.
Source: Leah Millis / Reuters

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in the linguistic hot seat yet again. This time, she is taking heat for accusing Donald Trump’s administration of operating “concentration camps” on the southern border. Some people, it appears, would prefer that she refer to them as “tender-age facilities,” as the administration has proposed. Or, at least, some believe it is below the belt for Ocasio-Cortez to use a term that implies a parallel between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler.

However, the idea that

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