Re: Neologism may get confusing sometimes...

John Cowan wrote:
>
>Andreas Johansson scripsit:
>
> > It's a bit like "nationalism", "patriotism" and "chauvinism" - they all
>mean
> > much the same thing, but they signal different attitudes of the speaker
> > towards the phenomenon.
>
>Note that by overextending the phrase "male chauvinism", the word
>"chauvinism"
>in English may now mean any kind of prejudice in favor of one's own group
>whatever the nature of that group: it is not restricted to nationalism.
>
Yet another reason to dislike the expression "male chauvinism", then. A
similar semantic inflation seems to be happening to Swedish _rasism_, which
used, and presumeable still does to most speakers, mean "racism", but which
some nowadays use about discrimination of any group. I've been told that
refusal to label mistreatment of women as _rasistiskt_ ("racist") proves
that you're a male chauvinist ...

But I guess my point above is pretty clear anyways.

                                                       Andreas

_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com