"refugee" a bad word

[Harrold Wilson Gray]

On Sep 2, 2005, at 1:13 PM, Fred Shapiro wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "refugee" a bad word
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>
> On Fri, 2 Sep 2005, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>
>> On Sep 2, 2005, at 8:32 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>>> This is the first time I've heard the notion that you perforce had
>>> to be international (i.e., a "foreigner" - now a very bad word) to
>>> be considered a refugee.
>
> Isn't the real issue the connotation of the word: "refugee" connotes
> a person in a desperate plight in a situation where order has broken
> down
> and government is unable to fix things, or where governmental
> oppression
> drives people to flee.  Naturally Republicans don't want the word being
> used about Americans, despite its obvious relevance to what is
> happening
> in New Orleans and perhaps what lies in the future where other
> environmental disasters and infrastructural breakdowns may await us.
>
> Fred Shapiro

An excellent  point, Fred.

-Wilson

>
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> Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF
> QUOTATIONS
>   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
> Yale Law School                             forthcoming
> e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu
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