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US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin says that Putin’s deliberate targeting of civilians in Ukraine is “really disgusting”. He says the use of chemical or biological weapons by Putin would prompt a significant reaction from the US and the global community..

Margaret Brennan says Russia is now using missiles that travel “a mile a minute”.

cbsnews.com/video/austin-vows-

I have to come to the defense of Ms. Brennan here…

Margaret Brennan is perhaps the most competent news anchor in the business. I’m sure she meant to say “a mile a second”, which would be at the threshold of hypersonic speed. The phrase, “a mile a minute” is an old expression which goes all the way back to the early railroad days, when a train was the fasted vehicle around. It was even faster than a pony express rider. So the expression “a mile a minute” was used for over a century to mean “fast.” I’m sure Ms. Brennan is well read in history and knows that, and that’s how that phrase got crossed up in her neurons.

Also, “a mile a minute” is alliterative, which forms stronger neuro-links and is more likely to be followed by the language processing centers in the brain than a non-alliterative phrase such as “a minute a second.”

Isn’t neuro-linguistics fun (and sometimes embarrassing)?

Still, reporters on average, usually struggle with math and science topics.

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