[net.religion.jewish] Confiscated words

fek@wuphys.UUCP (Frank Kramer) (04/04/85)

Somehow I feel like Andy Rooney with his whiney ..

"Don't you just hate it when ..."

But I must protest against those who take perfectly general terms and
confiscate them for their own purposes.

Like the term holocaust.  Look it up in any dictionary.  The
definition talks about things like "destruction by fire", but says
nothing about Jews or WWII or a movie made for television.  Sure, one
might use the word in conjunction with the "final solution"
perpetrated by the Nazis, but I used the word the other day in a
discussion of a hotel fire and was promptly berated for using it in a
way that had nothing to do with concentration camps.  Give me a break.

And another thing (boy, now I'm on a roll); what ever happened to the
male-prefix when talking about male-chauvinism ?  Chauvin was a
nineteenth century french soldier who displayed an extreme patriotism
and dedication to Napolean.  It is used in the general sense of any
person with a excessive attachment to a place or group to which that
person belongs.

I know, I know.  Languages are meant to be dynamic and here I am,
sitcking in the mud and bitching about things that most don't care
diddly-squat about.  But there is a difference between progress and
sloppiness.  I've gotta go.  There's a jewish feminist on her way over
here right now.


That's all,

Frank