Thanks, J South. Two more questions: 1. Do the silly denigration of the word _niggardly_ and the silly outright ban on the word _slave_ mean there's never any call whatsoever to ponder any present use of any slavery-era language in any context? 2. You allude to what was legal. Is there any analogy here with the word _witch_, which was also a legally real status in certain past times? As I said, I agree that facts are facts and that denotation is denotation, but something tells me this is nevertheless not all just precious political correctness. So I hope others comment too. > The Association of Educational Publishers, among others, has banned the > use > of the word slave in favor of enslaved person, worker, or laborer. > Black/blacks is also banned as a noun, and niggardly is banned to be > replaced with > frugal or cheap. A good, and pretty funny, work on the attempts to > politically > correct-up language is The Language Police by Diane Ravitch. > > At the time slaves were legally owned just like a horse or carriage or any > other personal property. Attempting to convey some other status is > historically inaccurate and just plain dumb. > > J South ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html