curious usage note

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Wed Mar 30 18:14:47 UTC 2011


Isn't "sodomite" derived from the people of Sodom, and would therefore fall
under the tribal source?

"Labourite", although tribal in the minds of some, doesn't really fit the
rule, I admit. I do believe there is a rule, however.

DanG

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 1:26 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: curious usage note
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12:41 PM -0400 3/30/11, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >Isn't the "-ite" suffix normally restricted to tribes (Hittite) and
> >followers of people (Trotskyite)?
> >
> >Jihad is neither.
> >
> >DanG
>
> Nor is "sodomite", nor "Labo(u)rite".
>
> Then there's the pejorative -er we've discussed (flat-earther,
> birther, truther, et al.)--so maybe Jihader.  Naaah.
>
> LH
>
> >
> >On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrote:
> >
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>  -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >>  Subject:      Re: curious usage note
> >>
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  At 12:25 PM -0400 3/30/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>  >_New Oxford American Dictionary_ (2005):
> >>  >
> >>  >"Jihadist...There doesn't seem to be a pressing need for this
> >>  >English-friendly form since the Arabic term for a holy warrior,
> _mujahid_,
> >>  >has already made it into English. in the plural forms (_mujahideen,
> >>  >mujahedin_) along with _jihadi_, a form more in keeping with Arabic
> >>  >morphology."
> >>  >
> >>  >Weird, eh? Like being "English-friendly" could be a drawback, esp.
> >>  >in contrast with a harder-to-spell-and-remember foreign word like
> "mujahid
> >>  "
> >>  >(my keyboard doesn't want me to include the diacritic over the "a.")
> >>  >
> >>  >But what of this?:
> >>  >
> >>  >"..._Jihadist_, however, is the preferred form for all writers who are
> >>  >vehemently anti-Arab or anti-Islam."
> >>  >
> >>  >Is this true? Do I even detect sarcasm? Doesn't the note imply that
> the
> >>  use
> >>  >of "jihadist" is an identifying mark of the racist and/or religious
> bigot?
> >>  >
> >>  >On what basis specifically?
> >>  >
> >>  >JL
> >>
> >>  Right; I think we (or the bigots among us) ought to stick with
> >>  traditional suffixal usage and go with "Jihadite"--or, if female,
> >>  "Jihadette"--rather than adopting the much more neutral-sounding
> >>  "Jihadist".  (Cf. Trotskyite, suffragette, et al.)  Unfortunately,
> >>  "Jihadite" sounds more like an exotic rock or gem, possibly a
> >>  birthstone.
> >>
> >>  LH
> >>
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