keesan@bbncca.ARPA (Morris Keesan) (06/23/84)
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In the recent debate on homosexuality and tolerance which has been taking
place mostly in net.singles and leaking occasionally into net.motss, Steve Dyer
made a reference to "fascism", was criticized for using the word incorrectly,
and replied by clarifying the specific idiomatic sense he intended. Wondering
about the "official" definition, I checked Webster's Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary, and found that the derivation of "fascism" is from the Italian
"fascismo", from "fascio" meaning bundle, from the Latin "fascis", also meaning
bundle. Considering the topic of debate, I find this highly amusing, because
I'm sure that "fascis" is related (probably through a common Indo-European
root) to the English word "faggot" meaning bundle, or bundle of sticks.
--
Morris M. Keesan
{decvax,linus,wjh12,ima}!bbncca!keesan
keesan @ BBN-UNIX.ARPA