----- Original Message ----- From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 3:16 PM Subject: Re: Intellectual output from the Arab World
> Sorry to disappoint you, but it is the other way around. > > If both Jews and Arabs are Semitic, than *by definition* the word > anti-Semitic must mean anti-Jew *and* anti-Arab -- just like > "anti-American" means "hatred of anything American" and not "only hatred of > anything Texan". What the pro-Israel crowd is doing, is ignoring part of > the meaning of the word because it does not suit their needs. Let me get this straight. English is a second language for you and you are claiming that the definitive source of English (OED) is wrong and you are right in defining an English word? So, do you also claim that the catwalk on an oil rig is misdefined because cats don't walk on it; software is misdefined because it actually isn't soft or a ware, a miser is not a tightwad because he isn't drunk? Or a photograph is not a snapshot because there is no gun involved? If you study the etomology of words, you can see how words evolve and are defined through usage. Dan M. > But then, they really have no choice -- if they were to admit that > "anti-Semite" also means "anti-Arab", they would end up having to admit > that their logic is fatally flawed. > > > Jeroen "Likud Delenda Est" van Baardwijk > > __________________________________________________________________________ > Wonderful-World-of-Brin-L Website: http://www.Brin-L.com > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
