
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990                   TAG: 9006260040
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOW IS FLAG-BURNING AN ORAL EXPRESSION?

I WISH someone would explain how and when "speech" and "expression" became synonyms.

Both my 1975 thesaurus and my 1956 Webster's define speech as using the vocal cords for oral expression. Expression is defined as having many forms, including vocal and oral.

As in your June 13 flag-burning editorial, both the vocal and printed media and the Supreme Court freely substitute "expression" for "speech" as written in the First Amendment.

Many methods of expression are illegal. I may carry a sign saying almost anything, but I may not express those words in paint on the Washington Monument; nor, in an airport, may I use my power of speech to suggest a bomb is in my luggage.

Would someone please explain how burning this proud nation's flag became a vocal or oral expression? G.F. SNYDER SALEM

by CNB