[WikiEN-l] Jeezis needs a name change

[Richard Grevers]

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 10:40:29 -0700, Sean Barrett <sean at epoptic.org> gave 
utterance to the following:

> Stevertigo wrote:
>> --- Anthere <anthere6 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> what does "Retard" means ? (in french, it implies
>>> "late")
>>
>>
>> LOL. En English it means "mentally retarded" --as in
>> "stunted growth". See "fire retardant".
>
> "To retard" is a perfectly legitimate verb meaning "to hold back" or "to 
> slow."  Assuming that it refers to a psycological condition is every bit 
> as ridiculous as assuming that "niggardly" has something to do with skin 
> color.
>
Yes, but there is a natural tendency to interpret any name in its noun 
form in preference to its verb form in cases where both exist.
-- 
Richard Grevers
Between two evils always pick the one you haven't tried