Re[2]: [exercise/exorcise/excise]

[Bonni Graham <Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- RELAY -dot- PROTEON -dot- COM>]

Julie notes:

"This is not a case of English having different words for the same thing.
Discussions about exorcism should be kept to talk.religeon.misc in
future!"

Yeah, but...

Many previously religious terms have now adopted more secular meanings.  I
feel that exorcise is one of them.  In its secular sense, it means to
rigorously remove, or, as the Random House College Dictionary says, " 2.
to free (a person, place, etc.) of evil spirits or _malignant
influences_." [underscore mine]  Since English is a living language, we
should probably be prepared to accept these changes in terminology.

Given the size of my mailbox, I'd say that all the extra inclusions (when
preventable, which is not always) _is_ pretty much a malignant influence.
<grin>

OTOH, sometimes not including info leads to messages like "I absolutely
agree with X."  End of message.  The subject line is no help, since there
are usually a gazillion postings for each topic.  Only the poster knows
for sure...

We need to be careful both ways, IMHO.

Bonni Graham                               |
Technical Writer                           |
Easel Corporation, ENFIN Technology Lab    | Never tell people how to
Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- relay -dot- proteon -dot- com | do things.  Tell them
President, San Diego STC                   | what to do and they will
                                           | surprise you with their
NOTE: apparently my email address needs    | ingenuity.
to be typed exactly as it appears here,    |
punctuation and all, or the system gets    |          --George Patton
upset.                                     |