In a message dated 7/20/05 11:10:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Like "Xtians"?
"X" is, as I am sure you know, the Greek for Christ (if memory serves me right). Thus, "Xtian" is an abbreviation for Christian. Many years ago I used it in religion courses I took in college.
I recall being taught in Sunday school that early Christians sometimes used
an X to signify Christ, in order to avoid persecution. That, I was told, is
why X-mas is perfectly acceptable. Xtians would seem to be acceptable as
well.
Indeed, the term Christian originated as a put-down applied to
I think, as the Court likes to say in EC cases, that purpose matters when someone uses Xmas or Xtian instead of Christmas or Christian. Did you use the abbreviation merely as a shortcut (if so, did you abbreviate lots of other words in your sentence or paragraph), or did you use the X because you
In a message dated 7/21/05 10:04:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Do you often use Greek letters to shorten English words?
No, don't often use GREEK letter to shorten English words but do use a lot of abbreviations and don't spend at time at all, until this thread,
I suppose the best solution is that we all use the words we believe best
convey our meanings, keeping in mind the virtues of civility on this
list. Others may challenge our usages, and we then deciding whether to
accept amendments.
MAG
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 07/21/05 10:03 AM
I think, as the Court
I like the title of this thread Assaults on the England language,
which suggests the grammatical argument for why it's wrong to say
Democrat Party. But if the grammatical point is so strong, why do we
say women lawyers? Women isn't an adjective.
Ann
On Jul 21, 2005, at 9:20 AM, Mark
The grammatical argument is
only one factor for saying the "Democratic Party" instead of "Democrat
Party."What's dispositive, in my view, is that "Democratic Party"
isthe chosen name of a particular group of fellow citizens. And,
again in my view, respect for those citizens should carry
I agree entirely with Mark Graber; we have had fruitful discussions in the past
about the use of terms such as Judeo-Christian and totalitarian, and I
think Rick's addition of terms such as fundamentalist and homophobic, as well
as anti-choice or
anti-abortion might be thrown in the mix.
But there isn't any corresponding adjective that serves the purpose.
Womanish lawyers, womanly lawyers, or feminine lawyers would all
mean something very different. Female lawyers is sometimes used, but
sounds more clinical. Female is also used as both noun and adjective,
and English is
In a message dated 7/21/2005 10:51:11 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
And,
again in my view, respect for those citizens should carry over to using the
name they chose.
This thread seems to have little to do with the law of religion.
And I announced that I had
In a message dated 7/21/2005 11:25:02 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The
claim of the people making the gramatical argument depends on thefact that
with Democrat and Democratic, the language has clearlydifferentiated the
noun from the adjective.
Which is
The correct adjective is "female," but people avoid it because they feel it has the wrong connotation. That's really the same thing you're seeing with those who avoid the adjective "Democratic" when referring to the party. And I'm on the side of calling people and groups what they want to be
In a message dated 7/21/2005 11:38:01 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Awording which I find less acceptable is "Judeo-Christian." There
is no such thing as a Judeo-Christian. Jews are not Christians, and Christians
are not Jews.
This, of course, is a doctrinal
Jim confuses descriptions
with proper names. Such terms as "pro-life," "fundamentalist," and "abominable
and detestable crime against nature" are descriptions of people or their
positions on various issues. My recentpost about respect takes no stand on
Jim's concern about such descriptions.
Judeo-Christian does not (usually) refer to a person. It refers to a
common tradition. It is undeniable that they have much of their
tradition and morality in common. There is a REALLY thick book of
ancient writings that both ascribe to as history and as moral teaching
(though Christians would
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Respect is a thing earned, not donated.
I respectfully disagree, Jim. I was raised to show a set amount of
respect to everyone. That level of repsect is subject to change
depending on the recipient's behavior. And regardless of how low a
person sinks, I will
Actually, I don't think giving or taking offense has much to do with it
(although offense certainly is taken). Indeed, Republic Party folks aren't
even addressing their Democratic counterparts when they use the adjective:
They're addressing the public, and they couldn't care less how we
In a message dated 7/21/2005 2:20:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
First,
McCarthy and his modern-day counterparts wish to deny Democrats the *positive*
connotations that are associated with the word
"democratic."
Do you equate anyone that uses the term
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Actually, I don't think giving or taking offense has much to do with it (although offense certainly is taken). Indeed, Republic Party folks aren't even addressing their Democratic counterparts when they use the adjective: They're addressing the public, and they
Any thoughts on when the line is crossed? Is it only, as the
Constitution demands on its face, at the point when such an oath is tendered to
the putative office-holder? Why may the Senate Judiciary Committee inquire
into the religion of John Roberts? When may it do so?
Does it matter that a
Now you are back to a constitutional religionlaw issue. Thanks.
The constitutional prohibition relates to public office AND public trust.
The Founding Fathers' only religion commandment: "no religious test shall
ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
Shameless self-promotion: I wrote about some of these issues in
"The Confrontation of Religoius Faith and Civil Religion: Catholics
Becoming Justices," 39 DePaul L. Rev. 1047 (1990), reprinted in Levinson,
Wrestling With Diversity (2003). Roberts is Catholic, and the Church is
increasingly
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