curious usage note

Thu Mar 31 12:55:32 UTC 2011

Good to know "it wasn't just me."

JL

On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 12:22 AM, Jeff Prucher <jprucher at yahoo.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jeff Prucher <jprucher at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: curious usage note
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The latest edition of NOAD has no usage note for "jihadist". So someone(s)
> at
> NOAD (or, more likely, NODE) decided they didn't need it anymore. Whether
> this
> is because they found they couldn't support the statements, needed the
> space for
> something else, changed their policies about usage notes, or something
> else, I
> wouldn't guess.
>
> The current definition is here: http://goo.gl/sWBfQ
>
> Jeff Prucher
> Editor, Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction.
> http://www.jeffprucher.com
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Sent: Wed, March 30, 2011 3:29:52 PM
> > Subject: Re: curious usage note
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society  <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:        Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:       Re: curious usage  note
> >
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > >I  suspect, this might have been true only a few months ago--perhaps
> > one needs  to go as far back as mid-2009.
> > But what's the evidence that it ever was  true?  Furthermore, the note
> seems
> > to me to be unusually  condemnatory.
> >
> > Yet the word is not labeled "offensive."  MW online  defines the word
> withou=
> > t
> > comment. Ditto OED (parent of NOAD) with  n./adj. cites back to 1967,
> none o=
> > f
> > which appears markedly disdainful or  dismissive to me, or used in a
> vehemen=
> > t
> > "anti-Arab" or "anti-Islam"  [sic: shouldn't it be "anti-Muslim"?]
> context.
> >
> > Surely anglicization  itself is not now seen as racist or bigoted. Is it?
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Wed, Mar  30, 2011 at 4:29 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrot=
> > e:
> >
> > >  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >  -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect  Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >  Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > >  Subject:      Re: curious usage note
> > >
> > >
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> > >
> > >  I suspect, this might have been true only a few months ago--perhaps
>  > > one  needs to go as far back as mid-2009. But with the election
> season
> > >  approaching in 2010, "jihadist" was also being used on the *Left*
> > > (along  with "teahadist") to represent aggressive and often religious
> > > right-wing  activists. This had led to such superficially paradoxical
> > > phrases as  "anti-mosque jihadists", so, in at least some instances,
> > > there must have  been a degree of irony added to the term. The term
> > > remains to be popular  with anti-Islam and anti-Arab activists,
> > > however, so IMO the description  is still largely--but no longer
> > > exclusively--true. More importantly, FNC  and other right-wing talking
> > > heads have also adopted the term for other  groups they don't like,
> > > e.g., animal-rights activists, opponents of  particular platform goals
> > > or people (e.g., "anti-Walker jihadists"). The  transfer appears to
> > > have dual purpose--it lumps all sorts of opposition  groups under one
> > > catch-all term /and/, at the same lime, tags them as  radical-Islam
> > > fellow-travelers. I will look for specific instances in  print, but my
> > > observations have largely been made from TV and  radio.
> > >
> > > Some samples (I decided to find a few before  sending):
> > >
> > > http://goo.gl/JFG6m
> > > Fiscal Jihadist, Free Spending Republicans  Punked the Tea Party
> > > [01.22.11]
> > >
> > > http://goo.gl/QdXOD
> > > Texas  Senate Honors Stealth Jihadist
> > > [02.15.11]
> > >
> > > http://goo.gl/Ly554
> > >  American Taxpayer, Financial Jihadist
> > > [08.14.10]
> > >
> > > http://goo.gl/IzHLK
> > >  American Taliban =97 The Republican Party Looks More Jihadist by the
> Day
> > >  [02.05.10]  [note adjectival usage]
> > >
> > > http://goo.gl/z6d4n
> > >  Jerkoff Jihadist Christine O=92Donnell Beats Off Challenger Mike
> Castle
> > >  to Win Delaware Senate GOP Nomination
> > > [09.14.10]
> > >
> > >
> > >  Note that the last two are clearly aimed /at/
> > >  conservatives/Tea-partiers/Republicans, the first is somewhat
> > > ambiguous  (at least from the headline) and the rest are all written
> > > from the  right-wing perspective. While this is not entirely
> > > representative of the  distribution, it does reflect the range fairly
> > > accurately.
> > >  VS-)
> > >
> > > On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 12:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > >  <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>  wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > 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?
> > >
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> >
> >
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