Re: vulgarisms
| From: | David G. Durand <dgd@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, November 12, 1998, 2:16 |
|---|
At 10:31 PM -0400 11/11/98, John Cowan wrote:
>Yes, specifically applied to the hypothyroid. But what is the link
>from "Christian" to "stupid"?
According to my wife's (plausible) folk etymology (for the same expression
in Greek), the "mentally challenged" were called Christians because they
were baptized (if nothing else) and so were better than animals and
non-Christians.
Usage took care of the rest, making the term derogatory, probably as soon
as it acquired "mental defective" as a significant component of its meaning.
-- David
_________________________________________
David Durand dgd@cs.bu.edu \ david@dynamicDiagrams.com
Boston University Computer Science \ Sr. Analyst
http://www.cs.bu.edu/students/grads/dgd/ \ Dynamic Diagrams
--------------------------------------------\ http://www.dynamicDiagrams.com/
MAPA: mapping for the WWW \__________________________