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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

How can a quagmire exist in the desert?

I've always wondered about the term quagmire. It sounds, you know, kind of marshy to me. Mire I know is mud. But quag? I googled "definition of quagmire." This is what I found:

Definitions of Quagmire on the Web:

* A soft boggy or marshy area that gives way under foot.
www.contractorschool-online.com/glossary/glossary_construction_terms_q.htm

* Wet muddy ground
www.wolverhamptonarchives.dial.pipex.com/local_faiths_glossary.htm

* mire: a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

* A quagmire (from "quake" + "mire") is, literally, shaky, miry ground; as a political term used to describe a foreign military campaign in which there is either no foreseeable possibility of victory or the objectives are unclearly defined, and at the same time no clear exit strategy has been formulated in the absence of victory. The military campaign is likened to a kind of swamp or marsh in which the warring nation is unable to remove itself.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagmire


I totally reject the political use to which the word has lately been put, as per the last definition. It reflects sloppy thinking (and defeatism). We must have been mired down plenty in Vietnam, due to the climate. But how can you get bogged down in a desert where the temp is 140 degrees?

You can get stuck in sand, as I did in Florida once when my car had to be winched out. So how about a new term? Sandstuck? Doesn't sound right. Suggestions, anyone?

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