America's War on Language

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Sep 5, 2014, at 7:09 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> At 9/4/2014 11:29 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> On Sep 4, 2014, at 8:03 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the=20
>> mail header -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: America's War on Language
>>> =20
>> =
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ----
>>> 
>>> WG:  <<My friend, Hideo, . . . chose to go with a nice swastika.>>
>>> WB:  Swastikas can be seen anywhere in Taiwan; they are identified with
>>> Buddhism. When first arriving in Taiwan, I saw packages of instant=
> noodles
>>> with swastika logos. I call the TKU student union <<Nazi Headquarters>>,
>>> because at the entrance is an elaborate fac,ade of hundreds of=
> Hakenkreuze.
>>> And of course as decorations on the ubiquitous shrines, temples, and
>>> statuary therein.
>>>    Hideo's classmates might have been drawing pictures of Jesus, back
>>> when it was okay to do so in school. But, ya never know. He mighta had a
>>> midget sub in his basement. Better safe than sorry. Assume he didn't=
> have
>>> any bansai plants, that woulda clinched it.
>> 
>> Although there seems to be some cross-over,=20
>> orientation is important. The right-handed=20
>> swastika is the Nazi symbol. The left-handed swastika is Buddhist. BB
> 
> 
> Are you sure?  I wondered, and looked at the=20
> Wikipedia article, which discusses "Geometry" and=20
> says "Nazi=20
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensign>ensigns had=20
> a=20
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_and_through>through=20
> and through image, so both versions were present,=20
> one on each side, but the=20
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_flag#Nazi_Germany>Nazi=20
> flag on land was right-facing on both sides and=20
> at a 45=B0 rotation."  The swastika illustration it=20
> calls "a=20
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol>symbol of=20
> auspiciousness in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism"=20
> also is right-facing.  (The swastika on the Nazi=20
> flag, however, is rotated 45 degrees; see "Flags of Germany".)
> 
> Joel=20

I looked at this again briefly. It appears that there might be more than just some cross-over, with Hinduism being right and Japanese Buddhism being left. BB
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