I’m not

Pete,

I don't really know anybody who instantly thinks "9/11" when they hear the term "Ground Zero". As I said, the phrase was around long before that day. It is still used to this day by media, first responders, etc, in emergency triage scenarios when referring to where the most intense activity is or was. The phrase was used, off-handedly, in the moment, and then co-opted by the media. Again, I agree with the sentiment, but we can't just start removing word/phrases because someone used it on a bad day, no matter how bad that day was.

Thanks. Brad.

Brad,

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t immediately equate it with the day the Twin Towers came down.

I’m guessing you’re a lot younger than I am (81).

Pete,

I'm 54. I was almost 31 on 9/11. My age has nothing to do with it. I remember the day clear as a bell. I can tell you where I was, down to the square yard, and exactly what I was doing when the squadron of F-16s scrambled from WPAFB to intercept Fight 93, breaking windows in the apartment buildings across the street from the shop I worked at at the time, and all across Dayton, for that matter.

Honestly, when I think of the phrase, I remember my days in the band I mentioned. I'm pretty sure every single individual in my circle, if I were to ask something about Ground Zero would probably assume I was referring to the band. Or they MIGHT ask, "Do you mean 9/11?", as if correcting me. Speaking of that.... Should we stop uttering the date? Just wipe it from our mouths? Or the phrase "The Pile", as it is also often referred to as? Is that off limits, too?

Trust me. We will never forget. But, when I read the headline, 9/11 never even entered my mind.

Thanks. Brad.

I certainly do.

Every time I am in New York City, I visit Ground Zero and shed some tears.

Is this Ground Zero stuff about Matt leaving the Bay Area for somewhere more affordable and power boating friendly?

(Which, come to think about it, could be pretty much anywhere else in the world)

Marcus,

Matt used the colloquial phrase "Ground Zero", referring to Florida being where the action is, in regard to powerboating, and a few got agitated about it, suggesting it should never be used for anything other than reference to 9/11.

I suspect Matt is leaving Kalifornia for a number of reasons, not the least of which would be the logistics.

Thanks. Brad.

If on the other hand, your circa 2001 ~ F.D.N.Y. N.Y.P.D. Cantor Fitzgerald employees' occupants of the twin towers deceased or related to deceased, your mind instantly equates ground zero to 9/11/01
ask me how I know?

Ground Zero to me is 9/11. I work with a former Cantor manager who was in one of the other buildings that morning for a meeting...close call for him. Everybody around here knew or knows someone affected by that day.

Sometimes, you have to go deeper than a Google search, This is from the current version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dict.../ground%20zero

For those who don't care to open the link provided:

1
: the point directly above, below, or at which a nuclear explosion occurs
2
: the center or origin of rapid, intense, or violent activity or change
broadly : center sense 2a
the party town that served as ground zero for those corporate … bashes—Rich Eisen
3
: the very beginning : square one

Note the second and third definitions. As I used it, the expression is applicable. (The example cited in the second definition supports this.)

All sensitivities duly acknowledged as I already did above, "everyone I know," when used to prove a point, presumes you know everyone. None of us do. So when it comes to word definitions I use the dictionary. When it changes, as it often does (the dictionary is only as good as the last published issue as English is a constantly evolving language) I change word choice with it.

I've made my position clear and supported it factually. I doubt I've changed any minds, but that wasn't my objective.

Best to all.