War Correspondents’ Saffer-Simpson Scale: “Jesus Christ” & “Holy S***” In Baghdad

FNC war correspondent Steve Harrigan continues to blog (and presumably formulate chapters for his book) in Baghdad. Earlier this week, he said “one step up from “Jesus Christ” on the fear meter is when you shout, “Holy s***!” which I just did a moment ago.” An extremely loud explosion went off while he was writing an e-mail on Tuesday:

“After a moment I moved the curtain to peer out the window to see the usual crowd of running people pointing at rising smoke. It is always the same story and it never makes any sense. But I am developing now my own sort of Saffir-Simpson scale of danger, based on what I yell out immediately after an explosion. If it is “Jesus Christ” it is not bad, still a moment to consider, to think it over, to say it almost in anger at the fact that an explosion happened so nearby. Unlike “Holy s***,” which is when one happens right behind you, catches you by surprise so you don’t know for a second whether you are in real trouble or not. It’s a real neck snapper that rattles you inside and leaves you a little shaky for sometime after.” Here’s the rest…