ARTHUR BINARD

I thought that the Arthur Binard lecture presented an interesting perspective on the difference between the American and Japanese use of language to describe the atomic bombings of World War II. For instance, the "mushroom cloud" could only be seen as a mushroom from a great height, such as those of the bombers. On the ground this was not the case, as the environment was engulfed in the cloud of debris. Therefore just the Americans would refer to the explosion as a "mushroom cloud." Nuances in the language reflect the circumstances of past events, which Arthur Binard emphasized in his lecture and readings.