from "blood libel" to "pogrom"

[Wilson Gray]

On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 5:43 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> quoted:

> pogrom

Clearly, this person has not the least idea of what a "pogrom" is - or
should that be, ... of what is a "pogrom"?. Well, that's not very
surprising, given that the one-volume edition of the Bol'shoi
russko-angliiskii slovar' / Comprehensive Russian-English Dictionary
gives the the meaning of _pogrom_ as "pogrom." I.e., there is really
no way of translating the horror contained in those two syllables into
English.

Of course, from now on, every time that some right-winger has his
feelings hurt, it'll be described as the consequence of a "pogrom."

It's almost enough to make you appreciate why The One True Faith
labored to keep the Bible out of the hands of the polloi for a
millennium and a half. That is to say, a person really ought to have
some idea of what a "pogrom" is before using the word to describe a
triviality. The writer would, no doubt, use "beheading" to describe a
cutting remark. :-(

--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

Once that we recognize that we do not err out of laziness, stupidity,
or evil intent, we can uncumber ourselves of the impossible burden of
trying to be permanently right. We can take seriously the proposition
that we could be in error, without necessarily deeming ourselves
idiotic or unworthy.
–Kathryn Schulz

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