World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

Kevin Vang wrote:
In article ,
lid says...
There you go again! Other words, like "pointless" or "useless" or
"idiotic" would better suit your point. My guess is that far fewer
people would be offended (well, except for the pointless, useless,
idiotic ones.)

A perfectly good argument shot right in the ass by an
unfortunate choice of word...

Hmmm. . . enlighten, please. Maybe my dictionary is acting up again.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

Tim J. typed:
Kevin Vang wrote:
In article ,
lid says...
There you go again! Other words, like "pointless" or "useless" or
"idiotic" would better suit your point. My guess is that far fewer
people would be offended (well, except for the pointless, useless,
idiotic ones.)

A perfectly good argument shot right in the ass by an
unfortunate choice of word...

Hmmm. . . enlighten, please. Maybe my dictionary is acting up again.

Ahhhh. . . why wait (patience was never my long suit.)

You have to drill down pretty deep to get from the word "idiotic" to
"retarded". The word "idiot" hasn't been used in a psychological sense for
around fifty years, while the word "retarded" still has as its main
definition, "Often offensive. Affected with mental retardation." Both of the
newer dictionaries I consulted list "showing foolishness or stupidity" as
the main definition of idiotic. I had to go back to a 1954 copy to find a
main definition that even vaguely referred to mental retardation, and then
only by referring to the word "idiot". Obviously, words morph over time,
exemplified by the fact that the root of the word, "idios", means one's own,
or private person. Also, I didn't hold up a photo of someone afflicted with
Down syndrome and use the word, which would change its context.

We're crossing into the gray area of political correctness, which I abhor.
Man (oops), this freakin' (oops) stuff is idiotic [sic]. Maybe we should
consult the same dictionary together. Wolfgang? ;-)
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

"Tim J." wrote in message
...

....Wolfgang? ;-)

Well, I think maybe Kevin's use of "unfortunate choice of word" referred to
Skwala's, not yours. Hard to say for sure. If I'm wrong, I think you
acquitted yourself nicely. If I'm right, the only thing unfortunate thing
about it (it was, after all, deliberate) is that Skwala revealed a great
deal more about himself than he probably intended. Unfortunate for
him.....not for those who like to know who they are dealing with.

Wolfgang
who firmly believes that usenet serves more than important purpose.

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

Tim J. wrote:

You have to drill down pretty deep to get from the word "idiotic" to
"retarded". The word "idiot" hasn't been used in a psychological sense for
around fifty years, while the word "retarded" still has as its main
definition, "Often offensive. Affected with mental retardation."

"Retarded" is the opposite of "advanced." I restrict my use of the word
to ignition timing.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

I think in Kevin's case (and I could be wrong here), it was a perfectly
good argument shot in the ass by replying to the wrong post. I don't
believe he took issue with Tim's post so much as suggesting that Skwala
may have had a valid point about the futility of this particular
thread, but that he chose a very poor vehicle for illustration, thus
distracting from his main argument.

..02,
Joe F.

p.s. Thanks for the etymology anyway.

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:20:42 -0500, "Tim J."
wrote:

...its context.

AHEM...

We're crossing into the gray area of political correctness

Uh, no. "Political correctness" would suggest, nay, DEMAND, that the
word itself is "incorrect," such as would require the changing of photo
captions from their original "negro" to "African-American." Common
sense, being in opposition to "political correctness" would correctly
suggest that the contextual usage in the instant case would be widely
offensive to many/most. If only common sense were a lot more common...

HTH,
R
....now, if he'd posted a link to a "lookee, Ma!" picture of some bozo
holding a trout with 9 other LDR'd flies in its mouth, captioned "some
critters never learn"...

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

The word "idiot" hasn't been used in a psychological sense for
around fifty years, ... Obviously, words morph over time,
exemplified by the fact that the root of the word, "idios", means one's own,
or private person.

one of our professors here in "greenvuhl", dr. steven cerutti, has
written a just-published book, "the words of the day: the unlikely
evolution of common english"... according to him, in ancient greece, a
person who kept to himself and out of public life was referred to as an
"idiotes", by the mid-14th century, "idiot" meant anything from an
uneducated person to a feeble-minded fool.

jeff (who admittedly is properly described by all of the ancient and
current definitions/meanings of the word)

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

Not that I disagree entirely; but I have to take issue with the blanket
assertion that common sense is in opposition to political correctness.
To be sure, some PC phrases do seem nonsensical (OBROFF: fisherpersons
vs. fishermen); but it's my overall unscientific impression that more
often than not, the two go hand in hand. Common sense, IMO, would
dictate that once a word or phrase is understood to be offensive to
many/most, discontinuation of its common usage should be considered.

Joe F.

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

Jeff Miller typed:
The word "idiot" hasn't been used in a psychological sense for
around fifty years, ... Obviously, words morph over time,
exemplified by the fact that the root of the word, "idios", means
one's own, or private person.

one of our professors here in "greenvuhl", dr. steven cerutti, has
written a just-published book, "the words of the day: the unlikely
evolution of common english"... according to him, in ancient greece, a
person who kept to himself and out of public life was referred to as
an "idiotes", by the mid-14th century, "idiot" meant anything from an
uneducated person to a feeble-minded fool.

.... also mildly interesting is that some words that appear totally unrelated
today share the same root, like "idiom" for example.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

World's Fish Are In Hot Water
 

On 6 Jan 2006 06:14:31 -0800, "rb608" wrote:

Not that I disagree entirely; but I have to take issue with the blanket
assertion that common sense is in opposition to political correctness.
To be sure, some PC phrases do seem nonsensical (OBROFF: fisherpersons
vs. fishermen); but it's my overall unscientific impression that more
often than not, the two go hand in hand. Common sense, IMO, would
dictate that once a word or phrase is understood to be offensive to
many/most, discontinuation of its common usage should be considered.

Joe F.

Well, maybe, but for me, when words themselves start getting banned it
isn't the thin end of the wedge or starting down a slippery slope -
you're at the bottom, covered in rancid grease with the wedge driven up
your ass...

TC,
R