488 POSTS
Praveen Swami is a Contributing Editor to ThePrint, and writes on issues related to national security, intelligence, police and regional geopolitics. An award-winning journalist who has extensive experience of reporting from theatres of conflict in the Middle-East, India and East Asia, he is the author of two books on the Kashmir conflict. Praveen can be reached at praveen.swami@theprint.in
I don’t think “metonym” is the right adjective to describe “Foggy Botton”; “nickname” is a more suitable description for it. Metonym is a word (name) associated with something established and well-known, and is frequently used interchangeably, as a substitute for it. For example, White House for the US prez, 10 Down Street for the British prime minister, 7 Race Course Road for the Indian PM, 10 Janpath for Sonia Gandhi, Kremlin with the Russian govt, Capitol Hill for the US Congress, and here in my city, Kolkata, Alimuddin Street for the CPI(M) headquarters.
I also don’t think Lippman described Gurkhas as Indians, he (correctly) said they were there Nepalese. This has also been corroborated by Hussain Haqqani when he discussed the issue at one of his book launches (search YouTube, you’ll find it).
I feel Praveen Swami’s writing style is very cluttered and sometimes misses peoviding context.