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Extensive travel

On fucking moon

An antidote to Unspeak: I found something quietly thrilling about the matter-of-fact language of Nasa’s announcement inviting new applications for the position of astronaut:

The open positions require extensive travel on Earth and in space. Possible destinations may include, but are not limited to, Texas, Florida, California, Russia, Kazakhstan, the International Space Station and the moon.

That is extensive.

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2 comments
  1. 1 ozma September 20, 2007, 3:32 am 

    Note that you have to be “super motivated.”

    Alas.

  2. 2 lamentreat September 20, 2007, 12:12 pm 

    I do like their confidence in referring to destinations in space, rather than space as a vague destination in itself. Strongly implying that, in other contexts, they send folks off to Alpha Centauri or the moons of Jupiter.


‘Should be required reading for reporters and editors everywhere’ Slate

‘Compelling... at its satirical best, Unspeak’s implacable rage harks back to the thundering tirades of the Augustan era’  Daily Telegraph

‘Unspeak is in the best sense a stimulus and a provocation. Unmasking unspeak is addictive, and anyone can play.’  Times Literary Supplement

‘I am not entirely sure what Poole is trying to say’  Alastair Campbell

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