1. And no amount of euphemistic verbalization can conceal that fact.

2. This letter of the generals is a verbalization of public distress, of the fear in Israeli society of the dangers that lie ahead.

3. I call this carefree verbalization "whateverspeak" (say it like a Valley Girl). People who practice it have no reservations about mangling or ignoring grammar rules and routinely use nonexistent words ("intimidatory") and meaningless terms ("pre–planning"). One manifestation that shows up with annoying regularity is government bureaucrats who have decided it sounds more authoritative to use "task" in place of "assign" as in, "That responsibility has been tasked to a new agency." I‘m willing to give teenagers some slack in this area, since they have a tradition of creating their own unique codes and dialects.

4. But I can‘t write in American, though it fascinates me.‘ " The AYSWOT dialogue is rooted in the conditions of the typical industrial–scale mid–market American restaurant experience: high volume, huge portions, relatively low prices, and high turnover of tables. (I can think of at least two popular national restaurant chains with "factory" in their names.) But I think Ellen Goodman may be right that the actual verbalization of this question, the choice of words spoken, says something about the work ethic in America – just as the "posh" talk Bennett learned at the cinema reflected the structure of British society.