The following segment from the Wikipedia entry on suicide attack is a good example of how the restrictions on mapping in conceptual integration can be negotiated even “against the grain” of the “logic” of some of the basic propositional structures behind the conceptual frame. So, the argument against ‘homicide bombing’ correctly points out that the reason ‘suicide’ is used as the attribute because it distinguishes it from the purely homicidal nature of a regular bombing. However, the reason (implicit) why the aptness of the the ‘suicide bombing’ label has been disputed because of the additional elements in the frame. For instance, the frame of suicide carries with it more than just the propositional meaning of ‘killing oneself’ but also possible affective elements such as pity, need to understand the reason for the action, reluctance to condemn the action, certain amount of courage needed for the action. In this case, ‘homicide attacks’ is a more appropriate term. Of course, in this case, the proponents of replacing ‘suicide’ with ‘homicide’ have lost but in theory there is no reason why ‘homicide attack’ could not be an adequate term if the language community agreed to use it. For instance, the American ‘I could care less’ that replaced ‘I couldn’t care less’ is a perfectly serviceable phrase despite its actual meaning being the opposite of its ‘literal’ or ‘logical’ meaning. (See here and here for more.)

Suicide attack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Usage of "Suicide Bombing" and related terms

The usage of the term “suicide bombing” dates back to at least 1940. An August 10, 1940 New York Times article mentions the term in relation to German tactics. A March 4, 1942 article refers to a Japanese attempt at a “suicide bombing” on an American carrier. The Times (London) of April 15, 1947, page 2, refers to a new pilotless, radio-controlled rocket missile thus: “Designed originally as a counter-measure to the Japanese ‘suicide-bomber,’ it is now a potent weapon for defence or offence.” The quotes are in the original and suggest that the phrase was an existing one. An earlier article (Aug 21, 1945, page 6) refers to a kamikaze plane as a “suicide-bomb.”

The term with the meaning “an attacker blowing up himself or a vehicle to kill others” appeared in 1981 when it was used in an Associated Press article to describe the bombing of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut.

In order to assign either a more positive or negative connotation to the act, suicide bombing is sometimes referred to by different terms. Islamists often call the act a isshtahad (meaning martyrdom operation), and the suicide bomber a shahid (pl. shuhada, literally ‘witness’ and usually translated as ‘martyr’). The term denotes one who died in order to testify his faith in God (Allah), for example those who die while waging jihad bis saif; it is applied to suicide bombers, by the Palestinian Authority among others, in part to overcome Islamic strictures against suicide. This term has been embraced by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah and other Palestinian factions engaging in suicide bombings. (The title is by no means restricted to suicide bombers and can be used for a wide range of people, including innocent victims; Muhammad al-Durra, for example, is among the most famous shuhada of the Intifada, and even a few non-Palestinians such as Tom Hurndall and Rachel Corrie have been called shahid.)

[edit] “Homicide bombing”

Some effort has been made to replace the term suicide bombing with the term homicide bombing. The first such use was by White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in April 2002.[41] The Fox News Channel and the New York Post, both owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, are two media organizations that have adopted the term. Fox News began using the term after it was suggested by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an interview.

Supporters of the term homicide bombing argue that since the primary purpose of such a bombing is to kill other people rather than merely to end one’s own life, the term homicide is a more accurate description than suicide. Others argue that homicide bombing is a less useful term, since it fails to capture the distinctive feature of suicide bombings, namely the bombers’ use of means which they are aware will inevitably bring about their own deaths. For instance, Timothy McVeigh and Theodore Kaczynski could both ostensibly be called “homicide bombers,” but neither could be called a “suicide bomber.” To this extent it has also been argued that most bombings are “homicide bombings”, as loss of life is their inherent aim.

[edit] “Genocide bombing”

Another attempted replacement is genocide bombing. The term was coined in 2002 by Canadian member of parliament Irwin Cotler, in an effort to replace the term homicide bomber as a substitute for “suicide bomber.”[42] The intention was to focus attention on the alleged intention of genocide by militant Palestinians in their calls to “Wipe Israel off the map.”[43]

[edit] “Islamikaze”

In 1997, Professor Raphael Israeli coined the term Islamikaze as a proposed description for Islamic suicide bombers.[44] According to Professor Israeli, he made up the word “Islamikaze” in an effort to signify that the primary goal of “suicide bombers” is not suicide but the infliction of damage to the enemy.[45]

The term has not entered into widespread usage.[46] Primarily, it continues to be used in Professor Israeli’s own publications and in works discussing Professor Israeli’s publications. For example, the most prominent usage of the term is probably Professor Israeli’s 2003 book.[47] However Stephen Blackwell has criticized Israeli’s coinage as a “flippant phrase” that “demonstrates a fundamental ignorance of Islamic culture”,[48] and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn has discussed whether Israeli’s concept of “Islamikazes” as motivated by military rather than suicidal goals may be helpful in profiling possible suicide bombers.[49]