Interesting reading, the article cited below that is, but a somewhat long
version of Aristotle's (I think or was it Plato, well any way, paraphrased
here :-) a wise man knows how little he knows.

peter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Reinhardt" <simon@FARRSIDE.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 11:21 AM
Subject: As a Breed

> OK, the general usage of that phrase in the Subject Field is as a
> generalization, i.e. "As a breed, people born in France tend to speak
> French."
> Or, "As a breed, people who eat too much fast food are fat."
> Or even, "As a breed, Vanagon owners are <insert phrase of your choice
> here>."
>
> OK? Is this enough for people to stop filling my inbox with snippy,
> ignorant stuff like, "I am terribly sorry if I offended anyone but I
> dont consider myself to fit that description" (referring to my
> soon-to-be-infamous line about jackdonkeys)?
>
> I mean, it's a generalization! Look at the examples! OBVIOUSLY there
> are exceptions!
> I would like to postulate here for posterity, that the folks who have
> responded to me to point out that they themselves are not "whiny,
> pedantic jackdonkeys", and that they are "sorry if I consider myself to
> be [one]", are in fact quite obviously exactly what they claim not to
> be!
> What's worse, AS A BREED the people on this list don't need this
> explained!
> Here's a link for the others (and fun reading for the smart ones!):
>
> http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html
>
> 'Bye,
> Simon
>