Ameliorated words of offensive origin

[Bethany K. Dumas]

>Protestant.  Being newly Catholic, I find the word
>neutral.  But some of my long-time Catholic friends say
>they fear it's offensive to Protestants????

Interesting. As an Episcopalian, what I find mildly offensive is "Catholic"
for "Roman Catholic." Sometimes I shorten it to "Roman." I never shorten it to
"Catholic" (better "catholic") which has a whole other meaning, as we say. I
think that the word "Protestant" is generically neutral (though often
misused).

Bethany