New/old racist etymology

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Mar 19 00:30:55 UTC 2013


At 3/17/2013 10:25 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

>On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > You might tell us why.
>
>For the usual reason that people burn books: it's not always possible
>to burn the person who wrote the book, since burning at the stake has
>gone the way of the dodo.

Wilson, you still haven't explained what you find disreputable
(meaning "can't be relied upon") in the section "A Note on
Terminology," in Black American Reference Book, ed. Mabel M. Smythe
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976), xi---xii.  I am citing
those specific pages (but not any other part of the "Reference Book")
in something I'm writing, and would like to know what you think is
questionable.

Joel

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