Six Words: Axis, Recover, Favor, Bracket, Detector, Leader
I’ve heard the term “axis powers” and I knew it was a World War 2 term, but I didn’t know the origins of the term, or exactly who those powers were. Then, in 2002, George W. Bush, the younger Bush, used a new term, or perhaps recovered a term, in his State of the Union address – “axis of evil”.
Because of this week’s words, I put on my phrase detector hat to figure out which countries qualified to fall within each of those terms. What were the brackets around each term?
I learned that the original axis powers were Germany and Italy, whose leaders proclaimed, on October 25, 1936, that henceforth the world would rotate on the Rome – Berlin axis. That line runs north and south and I suppose was meant to displace the line that runs through Greenwich, England that is the customary axis for measuring time and distance around the world. By November 25 of that year, Japan had found favor with the leaders of those countries, or at least common enemies, so it was added to the axis – which meant extending the straight line over the top of the world, or perhaps cleaving the world apart.