Jeroen wrote: >Worse yet, people defending themselves >are no longer considered brave; they are considered paria's and get attacked >for defending themselves.
That would be 'pariah' dude! I apologise for being a spelling pedant but I do this all the time on the Culture List (not so much recently), which makes it all the funnier when I make a spelling mistake myself. Interesting. Merriam-Webster's site claims that 'pariah' originates from Tamil. 'paraiyan', literally, drummer I can see how a drummer today might become a pariah (cf: the multitude of drummer jokes that are out there, general neighbour irritation etc), but have no idea how this worked in India and Sri Lanka. Does anyone here know? Failing that, I'll ask my parents. *googles* Aha! --------------------------- there is a tribe of drummers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala called paraiyan, who were classified vis-�-vis the caste system as "untouchables"-their name has become generalized for all social outcastes; it comes from the Tamil word parai 'drum', also 'to tell'; drumming and communication go together in ancient cultures. The great sage tiruvaLLuvar, the author of the highly esteemed poetic classic tirukkuraL, was of this tribe. ---------------------------- <<http://www.penkatali.org/tamilwords.html>> A bit more information but it still doens't quite explain why. Lal GSV Tamil, but not of the LTTE variety ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and solely for the intended addressee(s). Unauthorised reproduction, disclosure, modification, and/or distribution of this email may be unlawful. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your system. The views expressed in this message do not necessarily reflect those of LIFFE Holdings Plc or any of its subsidiary companies. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
