A few years ago, NPR and American RadioWorks ran a story on the consequences to New Orleans of a Category 5 hurricane [NPR part 1] [NPR part 2]. I had been hoping that the city would escape the worst-case scenario of the water topping the levees and submerging the city in twenty feet of water, but yesterday’s levee breaches appear to have taken us one step closer…

As you probably know, I’m fascinated by language, particularly the slang terms of various professions, such as the rich acronym soup of the emergency medical field (my sick favorite being “CTD”). In the hurricane story, we hear the director of emergency management use the acronym KYAGB, which stands for “Kiss your…”