Re: CHAT: better than others (late reflection)

At 14:40 20.3.2000 -0600, Thomas R. Wier wrote:

>Looking down on the Other is a general feature of humanity, not a peculiarity
>of any one particular people.
Sure, but the original subject was US-Canadian attitudes.  Perhaps my
"rats" example gave the impression I ascribed this as a specifically US
attitude, but that was not my intention.  Similar prejudices are mutually
held by Swedes and Danes, and by Swedes against all their neighbors, in
fact.  Some Finns will tell you that all swedes without exception are
fags.  The phenomenon even occurs between parishes and neighborhoods in
cities, as we all know.

As for Greek _barbaros_ I'm not so sure it implied cultural as opposed to
linguistic contempt: the Greeks could feel admiration for Egyptians and
Persians, yet they were by definition _barbaroi_.  Yet the extent of Greek
self-righteousness in *linguistic* matters was probably abysmal: Herodotos
tells that _angaros_ is a Persian word for 'messenger', while we think it
should have been obvious even to him that it was a Greek word spoken with a
strong Persian accent!  The way the Byzantine "Romans" disfigured Middle
Persian names to fit the pattern of their own language is even more
outrageous: _Adur-Anahid_ getting a nominative _Atouranaïs_ is a mild case,
and so is _Khosroes_ for _Xosru_, while _Windafar_ became _Gynophares_ and
_Walaxshah_ became _Vologeses_ in Latin and _(H)ologeses_ in Greek.


/BP

"Doubt grows with knowledge" -Goethe