English now and then (Re. Pulpit language

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>>>>> "00kmvanooteg" == 00kmvanooteg  <00kmvanooteg@bsuvc.bsu.edu> writes:

    00kmvanooteg> Bro Brown wrote:
    >>> The concept we are referring to here is what I have been
    >>> calling for
    00kmvanooteg> years "semantic drift".  It seems to be a favorite
    00kmvanooteg> long range strategy of New Agers.  Just listen to
    00kmvanooteg> the radio, and hear the way words are either used
    00kmvanooteg> slightly differently, or pronounced differently,
    00kmvanooteg> than the way we learned them in school.

    00kmvanooteg> This alteration is not accidental: it is being done
    00kmvanooteg> with an agenda.  The favorite words to "adjust"
    00kmvanooteg> pertain to sexual behaviour, and most especially to
    00kmvanooteg> homosexual behaviour.  Other words, in feilds
    00kmvanooteg> associated with morals, ethics, or religion, are
    00kmvanooteg> likewise twiddled with.

    00kmvanooteg> The idea seems to be to pervert the meaning until
    00kmvanooteg> that which was unacceptable becomes acceptable
    00kmvanooteg> because the meaning of the words has drifted, or to
    00kmvanooteg> change the term appied to describe something to a
    00kmvanooteg> term wiht more favorable connotations.

    00kmvanooteg> In performing these maneuvers, the very meaning of
    00kmvanooteg> the scriptures is perverted.  We must not permit
    00kmvanooteg> this to happen!<<



    00kmvanooteg> Bro. Brown,

    00kmvanooteg> I read the above post with great interest.
    00kmvanooteg> Personally, I have never noticed this "semantic
    00kmvanooteg> drift," but I would not be surprised at all that
    00kmvanooteg> certain groups do have such an agenda.

    00kmvanooteg> I was wondering, could you possibly share some
    00kmvanooteg> examples with the list or words that have been
    00kmvanooteg> intentionally altered?  Thanks!

Well, how about the word "gay"?  It used to mean happy, cheerful, etc.
Or "love"?  It used to mean any of the 3 Greek words we find in the
Bible. depending on context, but in conjunction with the word "make"
the modern idiom would have us believe that it means sexual
intercourse, performed with or without any affection.

An example of such a term that has gotten a lot of press coverage
lateley is "harass":


Webster Definition for "harass"

Cross references: 

    1.worry 

ha.rass \h*-'ras, 'har-*s\ \-m*nt\ vt [F harasser, fr. MF, fr. harer
to set a dog on, fr. OF hare,]interj. used to incite dogs, of Gmc
origin; akin to OHG hier here - more at HERE 1: to worry and impede by
repeated raids 2a: EXHAUST, FATIGUE 2b: to annoy continually or
chronically : BADGER - ha.rass.er n

So the dictionary definition of the word means to do something
repeatedly with the intent of being a pest.  Yet the legal definition
of sexual harassment considers a single occurance to be harassment.

While I am not in favor of even single occurances of this dort of
behaviour, it is semantic drift to use the word "harass" to describe
it.  It causes the meaning of other uses of the word to take on, after
the fact, the insinuation that a single occurance was harassment.  The
proper word would have been "annoy"; "harasss" means "annoy
continually".

-- 
--------  "And there came a writing to him from Elijah"  [2Ch 21:12]  --------
Robert Jay Brown III  rj@eli.wariat.org  http://eli.wariat.org  1 847 705-0424
Elijah Laboratories Inc.;  37 South Greenwood Avenue;  Palatine, IL 60067-6328
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