Rhetoric：花言巧語

基地組織首腦本·拉登在美國大選投票前四天突然透過錄影帶亮相，并直接向美國選民喊話，明顯意圖影響美國大選。在拉登發出恐怖威脅后，美國《紐約時報》對5個關鍵州的數十位選民進行調查，結果顯示選民的投票意向并不會因拉登的威脅而改變。據報道：A senior US official said here on Sunday that Osama bin Laden's surprise address to the American people was merely "threatening rhetoric."

"I can tell you, it's rhetoric. It's threatening rhetoric. We don't have any specific threat information that comes out of that tape," White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told local mass media.

Rhetoric表示“修辭，華麗的文辭，花言巧語”，這里指美方認為本·拉登的講話不過是虛張聲勢的夸夸其談而已。例如：His offers of compromise were mere rhetoric.（他提出的妥協只是空話。）此外，rhetoric還表示“雄辯，辯才說話或寫作的風格”，例如：fiery political rhetoric（激昂的政治語言風格）。