There are a few times when I would gladly take Mrrzy's side on this one. Have you ever sat in a law office or a cort room while the attorney's tried to construe the real meaning of words?

I very often have to separate the meaning of cripple from one of a person who is disabled and use it only as a 2 x 4 stud that goes partly up a wall. I remember when gay meant overly cheerful and a sticking ones finger in a dyke, or dike, could save a nation and be there by propelled into folklore.

I don't mind that a person can show me some disrespect but does it follow that I was disrespected?

If we have to ponder what a word we know well may really mean in the context it is in then we are sacrificing clear communication for something ambiguous. And at the same time it is this ambiguous nature we apply to some words that creates some of our most wonderful poetry.

Don