# Exactly what kind of bombers are the terrorists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360 "2002-04-18T18:47:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/21 "2003-05-19T00:40:23Z")
I’ll call them suicide bombers for the reasons I already stated in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=3440723) soon-to be-gone thread. 😉 Plus, saying a phrase as silly as “homicide bombers” in public makes me blush. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/22 "2003-05-19T00:55:32Z")
Calling them a bomber already implies that they are killing people with their bombs so adding “homicide” is not neccesary. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/23 "2003-05-19T03:58:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\*Calling them a bomber already implies that they are killing people with their bombs so adding “homicide” is not neccesary. \*\* That’s not completely true. You can destroy property all day long without intending to do bodily harm. The fact that a bomb is used is not relevant to the deed. It is a discriptive term used to explain the methodology. the correct term should be suicide murderer. I don’ t see the harm in using suicide bomber because it has become part of the lexicon of reporting. Use of the word murderer simply drives home a point that people are being murdered. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/24 "2003-05-19T04:47:14Z")
They’re suicide bombers. The fact that they are willing to take their own lives in an attack is significant. FNC’s insistance on “homicide bombers” is childish, redundant, and it leaves out part of the story . It’s editorializing the news instead of just reporting the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/25 "2003-05-19T05:04:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Magiver \* > \*\*That’s not completely true. You can destroy property all day long without intending to do bodily harm. > > The fact that a bomb is used is not relevant to the deed. It is a discriptive term used to explain the methodology. Well, the word “stabber” or “shooter” doesn’t neccesarily mean that the culprit actually stabbed or shot another person does it? But I think most of us infer what those two words mean in context. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/26 "2003-05-19T05:14:37Z")
When you hear in the news that a “school shooter” has “shot up the school” what do you usually think it means? Theoretically, it could just mean that a student went there at 3 A.M when nobody was there and “shot up the school” by taking out a few windows with his BB gun. But the commonly understood meaning of the phrase “school shooter” is a student that goes to a school and shoots other people. Why not just say “Student Shooter” then? I suppose it would be more accurate. Who knows? Who really cares? I sort of care, but not really that much. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360/27 "2003-05-19T05:26:36Z")
“Exactly what kind of bombers are the terrorists?” Uhhmmm… the worst kind? No, really; if immolation is the method of bombing, suicide bomber describes it quite acurately. All the Palestine/Israel mess is already a headache, why should we make things more complicated? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-what-kind-of-bombers-are-the-terrorists/104360.md?page=1)