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Isaac Penzev wrote:
Very instructive. Doesn't seem derogatory at all.
<RANT ALERT>
Of course not. *Words* are not by themselves derogatory,
only the uses and opinions we attatch to them.(1) It is interesting
to see how the Romans apparently valued things differently from
what is common now, so that Catullus could use _scortillum_ as a
term of endearment, and an _irrumator_ was "worse" than a
_pedicator_, contrary to most modern sentiments.
FYAI my own opinion is that as long as it is consenting adults
doing things I don't mind (with the possible exception of killing
and maiming).
What really pisses me off is when dictionaries out of prudishness
give vague or outright incorrect translations, as my Latin-German
dictionary which translates all of _cinaedus, pedicator, pathicus_
as "Unnatürlicher Wohllusting". (I forgot to check _irrumator_...)
_Futuere_ is "Beschlafen", which is also a bit vague, but then my
Latin-Swedish and Latin-English dictionaries don't even contain
these words. How is one to understand the Roman satirists and
commedians then, except in the very basic sense "if it ain't in
the dictionary it's a dirty word"?
(1)Take for instance "CP", short for Cerebral Palsy, which
has in Swedish slang acquired the innacurate derogatory
meaning "stupid". I'm not stupid, neither are most other
people with cerebral palsy that I know -- and none is
out of the ordinary stupid lest they have *another diagnosis*
as well --, yet on the one hand I have to shy away from
giving my condition its correct name, and OTOH I and others
can indulge in jokes that we ourselves would want other
people whipped for. It's quite like with the "N-word",
and all because of prejudice
<E O RANT>
--
/BP 8^)
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@hidden.email (delete X)
Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant!
(Tacitus)