When was the last time you used the word "attack"?

I had an e-mail this afternoon from the company that hosts my web sites (I have two), replying to my urgent demand to know why the e-mail accounts linked to one site were suddenly not working. The hosting company (Hostway U.K.) is usually very reliable, so I was chagrined that something was amiss just as I sent out 50 announcements to journalists and other key people to say GenevaLunch was up and running. Hostway didn't reply quickly, which is also unusual - they pride themselves on getting back to customers within an hour or so. I phoned, found a pleasant young man who started checking for the message I'd sent - and he suddenly had a message on his screen explaining that they had a major problem on one server. My accounts were on that server, he said.

I waited, as we agreed I should, for two hours for things to get back to normal. Meanwhile, I received a friendly but business-like e-mail from customer service explaining that they had had a major attack on the account of one of their customers. The location of the attacker kept changing, which made it harder and slower to fight it off.

Attack! I know it's Internet jargon and used a lot, but I saw the word again a few minutes later while reading a BBC report on an Internet gaming convention in Los Angeles, that led me to a story about an Israeli firm that just folded after spammers went for it. And again while reading about a shootout in the State Council in Ankara, Turkey, where a judge was killed and others wounded. The word reappeared on the sports pages.

I reflected that it is not a word I use lightly or frequently, if ever. It's not that my life excludes attacks: it's a matter of perception. An attack demands reprisals. A problem, on the other hand, just demands action.

Right now, at this very moment, Guangdong's coast in southeast China is preparing to be battered by typhoon Chanchu, the worst May typhoon on record. China is getting ready for a summer of bad weather and Chanchu, which means "pearl" might kickstart the season.

Should we say the typhoon is attacking China? But what, then, is the response? Action or reprisals, and what would those be, where nature is concerned?