Re: what is etymology? (linguistics and biology)

Ekkehard Dengler wrote:
>
> "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:43DB77F4.3E0A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Ekkehard Dengler wrote:
> > >
> > > Peter T. Daniels schrieb:
> > > > Ekkehard Dengler wrote:
> > > > > Peter T. Daniels schrieb :
> > > > > > Colin Fine wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > > > > > > > Ekkehard Dengler wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >> Let me add that if you really feel strongly about derogatory epithets, the
> > > > > > > >> logical thing to do would be to stop calling people things like "idiot",
> > > > > > > >> "twit", "bitch" etc.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I don't think the dog community is offended when someone is called
> > > > > > > > "bitch"; I don't know the background of "twit," though I don't think
> > > > > > > > it's derived from any run-of-the-mill anthroponym; and "idiot" refers to
> > > > > > > > a particular level of inability to cope with mental complications that
> > > > > > > > makes it, in some contexts, quite appropriate.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Umm, Peter ... You seem perilously close to deducing meaning (or at
> > > > > > > least connotation) from etymology ...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > No, I'm sending up (as you people say) the rightwingnutcase concept of
> > > > > > "political correctness."
> > > > >
> > > > > Your jibe about "Nazi-money-sheltering Switzerland" could easily have been
> > > > > interpreted as the opposite of what you're trying to achieve. What you
> > > > > appeared to be ridiculing was the use of the term "mongoloid" in (Swiss)
> > > > > German, not most people's reaction to its etymological counterpart in
> > > > > English.
> > > >
> > > > Either that was in a different message, or your comment above didn't
> > > > address it, so bringing it up here in this context is incoherent.
> > >
> > > If you can't remember what you wrote, I suggest rereading it.
> >
> > I know what I wrote, and I also know that what I comented on here was
> > not a comment on it.
>
> Then let me remind you that what you wrote about the sensibilities (or lack
> of them) of the "dog community" was the justification you offered for your
> snide remark about supposed political incorrectness in Switzerland.

No, it was not. No one made the slightest reaction to my remark
referring to the well-known Swiss intransigence in releasing property
seized by Nazis to its rightful owners.

The "dog community" comment had nothing whatsoever to do with the sick
truth about Swiss bankers.

And the comment about Swiss bankers, in case you couldn't figure it out,
was to note that the same people, despite their
cuckoo-clock-and-chocolate image, both shelter Nazis and use the term
"mongoloid" without compunction.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.

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