refugee, IDP, evacuee

[Jonathan Lighter]

Larry, I included then deleted "exile" because ordinarily I wouldn't perceive captured and enslaved persons as "exiles."

But if one is emphasizing the mercenary activities of African slave traders, "exile" would then be applicable. The victims were "exiled" by other Africans, though still not in a perfectly literal sense.

JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: refugee, IDP, evacuee
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 6:58 AM -0700 9/6/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Margaret, I didn't write that.
>
>Anyway, except for fugitive slaves and the like, black people
>haven't been "refugees" in America since 1619. People brought and
>held forcibly against their will may be slaves, or captives, or
>prisoners, or other things, but hardly "refugees." Refugees leave,
>or are tossed out of, an intolerable place to seek refuge elsewhere.
>
>At least that's my understanding of the word "refugee."
>
>JL
>
... and then there's "exile", for those tossed out of (relatively)
tolerable places. But of course exiles can also be, or become,
refugees.

Larry


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