9/11 WTC. 2 Manhattan projects: ground zero and Ground Zero

2 Manhattan projects: ground zero and Ground Zero.

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right
to tell people what they do not want to hear."
- George Orwell, Preface to Animal Farm (1946)

Have you ever heard that a site in Manhattan where the former World Trade Center used to stand bears a truly strange name: "Ground Zero"? If you haven't heard it yet, here is information for you: starting from about 4 PM, September 11, 2001 (even before the WTC-7 has collapsed) the site where the Twin Towers used to be has been dubbed "ground zero" - both officially and unofficially. Almost immediately after the Towers' collapse (precisely at 11.01 AM) the then New York Mayor R. Giuliani has urged all citizens to stay at home if they can and ordered an immediate evacuation of the entire population of Manhattan south of Canal Street. When his order for evacuation was re-transmitted via TV-channels (for example by CNN) it sounded very strange: it reminded nothing else than a typical civil defense alert - used during a real war in which weapons of mass destruction supposed to be used. About the same time some strange guys dressed in full "lunar-looking" haz-mat suits were first noticed at that ground zero. And it was actually them - these strange "lunar-looking" guys who first began to call that spot by that strange name: "ground zero". Usage of this strange term in connection with demolition grounds of the former World Trade Center continued even up this day. However, a certain transformation occurred with this strange term soon, as if someone has realized his mistake and wanted to correct it: the term was elevated to be written with Capital Letters and as such it eventually found its way into many post-9/11 dictionaries and encyclopedias. Now it is no longer "ground zero", but "Ground Zero". But what about pre-9/11 English language? Do you know what this strange term "ground zero" used to mean before the WTC destruction and how many different meanings it used to have prior to 9/11? I guess you don't know. So, here is it:

All possible meanings of "ground zero" term as defined by The New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language (Deluxe Encyclopedic Edition 1999, ISBN 1-888777796), page 559.

There are few more definitions from various sources. Here are entire, unabridged definitions - "as is" - exactly as provided by respective dictionaries:

"ground zero" n. a point on the surface of land or water at or directly above or below the center of a nuclear explosion.

Collins English Dictionary, Major New Edition (Third Edition 1991, ISBN 0 00 433286-5 Standard).

"ground zero" n. a point on the ground directly below the center of a nuclear explosion.

Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus, 21 Century Edition (second edition 2000, ISBN 0 00 472502-6).

"ground zero". The place on the earth's surface directly at, below, or above the explosion of a nuclear bomb.

The American Heritage Desk Dictionary (Edition 1981, ISBN 0-395-31256-6).

"ground' ze'ro" - the point on the surface of the earth or water directly below, directly above, or at which an atomic or hydrogen bomb explodes.

Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (Edition 1989, printed in 1994, ISBN 0-517-11888-2).

"ground zero" - the point on the ground vertically beneath or above the point of detonation of an atomic or thermonuclear bomb.

The New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language (Deluxe Encyclopedic Edition 1999, ISBN 1-888777796).

"ground zero" = point on the ground directly under the explosion of a nuclear weapon.

Dictionary of Military Terms (Peter Collins Publishing 1999, ISBN 1-901659-24-0).

"ground ze-ro" /,.'../ n [U] the place where a NUCLEAR bomb explodes, where the most sever damage happens

Longman Advanced American Dictionary (new, first published 2000, ISBN 0 582 31732 0).

"ground zero" noun 1 [C usually singular] the exact place where a nuclear bomb explodes: The blast was felt as far as 30 miles from ground zero. 2 [U] the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City, which was destroyed in an attack on September 11, 2001.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 2nd Edition. (This is a post 9/11 edition, widely available).

You can download genuine high-quality photographs of the original pages of all main pre-9/11 dictionaries with former 'ground zero' definitions packed in a single zip-archive (1.5 Mb file size). Click here to download.

Are you surprised? If you don't believe your eyes and prefer to run to the nearest book store to buy some dictionary, don't be in a hurry. When you arrive to such shop you will be surprised even more, because it is no longer possible to find any dictionary with pure old definition of this strange term. Those dictionaries printed before 9/11, such as mentioned above, that contained the only true meaning of "ground zero" term have been long time ago removed from book-shelves and replaced with some newer ones. Unfortunately, the very English language was one of the first victims of the 9/11 perpetration… So, instead of rushing to a book store, try to ask some of your friends if they have any - in case of good luck you might succeed in finding some old big English dictionary that was not victimized by the linguistic part of the 9/11 cover-up.

Now, at last, you know what the "ground zero" is and you might guess about true meaning of the "Ground Zero" term when used with Capital Letters... As well as you might guess about true causes of a strange sickness - leukemia - endemic to that place, that majority of the Ground Zero responders suffer from. Click here to download an archive (14 Mb file size) with contains 40 articles describing health problems among the responders.

However, this is not all. Strangely enough, "Ground Zero" was used with capital letters even before the WTC thermo-nuclear demolition. Many people know about it - especially those from the US military. The very middle of the huge Pentagon building complex used to bear the same strange name: "Ground Zero". Even before the September 11. This name survived from the Cold War times. There used to be the so-called "Ground Zero Plaza" and the "Ground Zero Cafe"- right in the middle of the Pentagon. Guess why? Because the Pentagon was absolutely rightfully expected to be the main target of a Soviet nuclear strike in case of a major nuclear war. That is why the central yard of the Pentagon was mockingly dubbed "Ground Zero" in advance. And it was used with capital letters, of course, because it was proper noun - the name of the cafeteria. Usage of the "Ground Zero" term in connection with the central yard of the Pentagon is described in a fairly good manner in this Wikipedia article. Ironically, this mocking name narrowly missed to become the true one on the very same day - September 11, 2001 - when the last greeting from the Cold War era has delivered to that place a half-megaton thermo-nuclear warhead that "luckily" failed to explode.

Click here (opens in a new window) to watch the first 9/11 news release where the strangest nuclear term "ground zero" has been first indiscreetly introduced to general public. Note, that it happened even before the WTC-7 collapse, since NBC's Anne Thompson (who was the first reporter to use this nuclear name) referred in this clip to the Twin Towers' collapse as the "first explosion" and the "second explosion", while the "third explosion" (the WTC-7 demolition) was yet to occur, according to her. Here (opens in a new window) is yet another revealing video-clip about usage of the term "ground zero" on September 11, 2001, evening. And here (opens in a new window) you can see one of 9/11 contemporary news articles where seditious words "ground zero" are used "as is" - with low case letters, i.e. still as a definition, not as a proper noun. Should the abovementioned web page disappear, you can always download this September 12, 2001, CNN article saved in either PDF ( here) or in CHM ( here) formats.

To read more about "ground zero" and "Ground Zero" in pre-9/11 English language and about mutation of this strange term in modern English dictionaries following 9/11 events, go here.

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