Jim,

Oh, for goodness sakes...<s>

Some people are so touchy! <g>

Actually, I dislike the general degrading of the english language I've seen over the last 40-50 years. Gay used to mean happy. Now it means anything homosexual and most, if not all folks I know who are homosexual are anything but happy. The original useage of the word "champaign" meant "high, grassy plain" but now it maens an alcoholic beverage that is carbonated. Rush Limbaugh coined the phrase "Femi-Nazi" which had its intended effect of describing, agitating and entertaining but I'm not at all happy that it made it into Websters whatsoever. I've seen the phrase "born again" used in situations that I think only causes confusion - say where a business has survived a catastrophic issue and survived to again prosper.

I'm not sure what one can do about this lack of intellectual discipline as society has all but abandoned any kind of desire for 'exactness' in using the language.

I suppose at the end of the day a lot of this stems from the general lack of structure in the English language. It is, as I suggested above, become much more problematic as a result of the basics not being taught as rigorously as they were a few years ago.

I tend to agree with your observations.


>... I really really dislike the term "evangelist" being applied, formally, to someone whose JOB it is to promote a product. Even if the "job" is unpaid.
>
>I think that many of us 'evangelize', but using "Evangelist" in a position title just goes too far.