Michael Fumento

Jonathan Yardley, in his Washington Post review of Steven Poole's book "Unspeak," ("Fighting Words," May 24) gives examples of terms that try "to sell you something." One example: "'Intelligent Design' suggests that those who are faithful to the Darwinian theory of evolution are something other than 'intelligent.'" Yardley and Poole are both wrong: "Intelligent design" refers not to the holder of any belief. Rather, quoting from Wikipedia, "Intelligent Design is the concept that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

Yardly also says "pro-life" is "certainly one of the most misleading and insidious examples of the genre" indicating "those on the other side are 'pro-death.'" Funny, no mention of "pro-choice," as if the fetus has a say in the matter of whether it is to be aborted or not.