Why do we persist with the clumsy and long 'suicide bomber'? Is there not some new, short, word we could use? Or can someone on AP invent one? Ideally it would be short enough for headline writers, be clear in meaning, and unique in that meaning.
The French, officially and by law encouraged (as ever) to avoid English words where a good French one exists or may be devised, have (as ever), failed to find one. So they now call a suicide bomber 'un kamikaze'. That is what a kamikaze pilot was; a bomber committing suicide. ( Their adjective for a suicidal mission or any action doomed to inevitable and disastrous failure was already 'kamikaze') . Forget the 'divine wind' that sank an enemy fleet or its WW2 namesake. Kamikaze now means primarily one thing to the French, like hara-kiri (' belly cutting') does or karaoke ('empty orchestra' )does, whatever its literal or historical meaning
