If you were to play a word association game, and mentioned the term Holocaust, the associated word to come back to you as a response would be suffering and murder of Jews, without others included.
Probably true. And understandable as the genocide committed against the Jews is a well-known prime example. If you did a word association study of "civil war" you'd find it associated with Abe Lincoln, Yankees and Rebels, the freeing of the slaves, etc. - though of course, there have been other civil wars in the world besides the American one.
Just because a word is in a dictionary, does not make it correct and accurate.
Words have meanings and the dictionary is a darn good place to learn them. Even if some of the meanings are not "politically correct" for some "cranks".
Here's anti-Semitism per the American Heritage Dictionary - I'd bet this one is going to really get under your skin - but there it is right there in the dictionary:
bartleby.com
anti-Semitism
SYLLABICATION: an·ti-Sem·i·tism
PRONUNCIATION: nt-sm-tzm, nt-
NOUN: 1. Hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism. 2. Discrimination against Jews. |
