Rehnquist

From the NY Times cover story on the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist:

Kathleen Arburg, the court's public information officer, said Chief Justice Rehnquist, 80, had died at his home in Arlington, Va., surrounded by his three children (italics mine)

Why 'surrounded' I wonder? To begin with, it is even possible to be surrounded by just three people? And even if it is, why would you say your children surrounded - as if it was something you couldn't get out of?

I'm sure Rehnquist was very noble and respectable man (despite being a staunch conservative) - so it's unfortunate that the memory his name conjures up for me comes straight from Gore Vidal's Myron, where, in conformity to legislation on obscenity by the Supreme Court, the word rehnquist is used to refer to a portion of male genitalia! Just goes to show you why it's not a good idea to piss off novelists.