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Uncle Tom

Posted by RRC on February 28, 2006

In Reply to: Uncle Tom posted by N. Ambridge on February 28, 2006

: In response to your response about "sick as a dog" someone called dogs the Uncle Toms of the animal kingdom. This in fact is a misstatement. If you have seen the movie Uncle Tom's Cabin you would know that Uncle Tom was noted, not for sucking up to anyone, but for standing firm on his faith in the midst of adversity, even to the point of death. He was not a sycophant by any means when it came to his belief in God.

N., you have fallen into what some people call the "etymological fallacy" - the belief/insistence that the origin and the meaning of a word must forever be the same thing. Left-handed people are sinister, right-handed people are dextrous, awful and awesome are both good things to be, etc. RRC

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