Another one of those "Why is it...?" things.
Am I the only person annoyed by the use of the term "Judoe-Christian"?
It's not that I have any problem with people lumping two of the three "People of the Book" together, nor do I have any problem with the belief system(s) or the practitioners, so long as they are willing to give me the same consideration. it's the term and its linguistic implications bothers me.
It's the term, itself. It's backwards, you see.
Look, an American citizen may describe hirslf or be described as "Afro-American", "Italian-American", "Gyno-American", or whatever. So the base term, as I see it is "American" with the praenomen being the descriptor of a sub-group to which the person belongs.And, as far as I can think of at the moment, this structure of "descriptor before subject" is pretty universal in English: "deciduous tree", "right-wing nutbar", "one of the Tennessee Clampetts", ad infinitum.
Except for "Judeo-Christian".
In this ONE case the core group is used in the descriptor place and the subgroup is in the base position. Or am I the only one that reads this as "The Jewish sect of the Christian religion"?
The way I'm reading it, grammatically, those people that choose to refer to the presumed religious background of American culture* should be referring to our "Christo-Judean" values. Christianity is, after all, an offshoot of Judaism (or at least, so its Founder is portrayed as believing it).
Or am I wrong on this?
* Side note: Should "American Culture" be included in Georgr Carlin's list on mutually exclusive terms - you know: "Jumbo Shrimp", "American Champagne", etc.?
posted by MikeMoyle @ 10:43 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I hate the term mostly because it sets up all sorts of false presumptions about both religions (and their many variants). More importantly, it's sloppy and conveys nothing real in terms of data and leads to incorrect assumptions about whatever is being discussed.
American Culture on the other hand is ok with me. We have a recognizable and distinct culture, at least to other nations looking at us. By and large it sucks and is based in many ways on selfish and self-centered behavior but it's uniquely hours. Yay us.
You're not wrong but as I have said before "journalists do not use the English language unless forced to do so. The same goes for Advertisers.
BTW, Afro-American is dead, it's now African-American...hey it's got to keep you on your feet ( and everyone else). :-)
If only to defend my reputation for unwarranted pedantry, I must say: what do you mean, three people of the book? Have you forgotten the Samaratans? There are still nearly 1000 of them, you know. And in Iraq, there are even more members of a group not quite Jewish but certainly not Christian, who still follow John the Baptist, though trying to keep as low a profile as possible...
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