[Ads-l] Enslavement of Native Americans [was: wench

[Galen Buttitta]

If I can chime in here—I suffer from mental illness and I prefer to refer to myself as a "mentally ill person", not a "person with a mental illness". The latter is more cumbersome and unless there are good reasons to the contrary (such as with "person of color" and its converse) I think using the less-cumbersome form would be preferred.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 1, 2016, at 15:34, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
> 
> The perceived distinction between "slave" and "enslaved person" reminds me (a little) of a discussion we had a few years ago:  the distinction between "Jew" (occasionally deemed impolite or offensive) and "Jewish person" (regarded as more polite).
> 
> --Charlie
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Michael Quinion <michael.quinion at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG>
> Sent: Friday, April 1, 2016 2:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Fw: [ADS-L] Enslavement of Native Americans [was: wench
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>> On 01/04/2016 17:43, Z Rice wrote:
>> As I said the first time, the use of the term "slave" on this mailing list
>> is very telling as it implicitly LEGITIMIZES the enslavement of children,
>> women, and men. The language in your message, and on this mailing list
>> engages in this practice, and I will never submit to navigating history
>> with that sort of manipulative language and warped thinking.
> 
> Your repeated assertion of this nonsense is becoming tiresome.
> 
> Somebody who has been enslaved is a slave. The word is nothing more than
> a useful identifier. You can't change the English language by diktat, no
> matter how much a word might offend you.
> 
> --
> Michael Quinion, World Wide Words
> http://www.worldwidewords.org
> 
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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