It's so awful when the harmless diplomatic phrase "son of a whore" is misinterpreted in this way.
What was unprecedented about these exchanges was the degree to which cooperation seemed a real possibility rather than a diplomatic phrase employed to mask perennial differences in perennially touchy bilateral relations.
Iran has dismissed the agency's questions about "possible military dimensions" of its program — a diplomatic phrase referring to evidence the country sought to build nuclear warheads — by saying that it was fabricated by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Israeli Mossad.
"This is not about language; this is not about diplomatic phrasing or wording; this is about the substance of the issue," Mr. Putin said.
He admires China's discipline in driving through big infrastructure projects and economic reforms, he says; but notes (with diplomatic phrasing), that China is "more focused than India, as a democracy, can afford to be".
At Stanford, for instance, Google's recruiting of computer science Ph.D.'s has been, in Professor Motwani's diplomatic phrasing, "more successful than others," which he attributes to the critical mass of talent the company has assembled.
Under pressure from the anti-wind lobby, the NHMRC is undertaking a further review, which will doubtless reach the same conclusion, though possibly with some diplomatic phrasing regarding psychosomatic complaints.
Using diplomatic phrases that some will see as a warning to the government, Sternik said he hoped the dispute would not damage warming relations, or David Cameron's visit to Moscow next year.
And they know that, beneath the flowery diplomatic phrases, the bedrock of these alliances and partnerships is the confidence America's Asian friends have that America is able and willing to protect them from China's power.
Words such as "diplomatic" and phrases such as "media impact", though, have little relevance for Benedict.
They challenged each other's logic and budget numbers, offering a array of charges and countercharges, numbers and statistics, diplomatic catch-phrases, military jargon and economic theories.
