Metaphorosis

Hodding's way with words

Through five weeks of press briefings on the Iranian crisis, State Department Spokesman Hodding Carter III has shown himself a master of the diplomatic metaphor, using colorful figures of speech with a surgeon's precision. Last week the English language began to show signs of strain under Carter's constant hard use. When asked about what the U.S. would do next with the deposed Shah, the spokesman replied at different times:

>"What we are not going to do is play this game with all the cards face up on the deck." (He did not say whether the cards might be face up on the table.)

>"We are not going to put a man in a rowboat and send him out beyond the continental shelf if he has no place to go." (He did not say whether the Shah would be put in a rowboat if he did have a place to go.)

Later, at Princeton University, Carter was asked about Senator Edward Kennedy's criticism of the Shah. Said he: "I'm not going to tell a master politician how to suck eggs."

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