[Rhodes22-list] FW: A.Word.A.Day--zabernism

[Mark Kaynor]

I thought you all might enjoy this timely tidbit. Due to a certain member's
display of same recently, I felt a bit like that cobbler....

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Wordsmith [mailto:wsmith at wordsmith.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 12:06 AM
To: linguaphile at wordsmith.org
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zabernism

zabernism (ZAB-uhr-niz-uhm) noun

   The misuse of military power; aggression; bullying.

[After Zabern, German name for Saverne, a village in Alsace, France.
In 1912, in this village, a German military officer killed a lame cobbler
who smiled at him.]

  "Both countries have been slaves to Kruppism and Zabernism--because they
   were sovereign and free! So it will always be. So long as patriotic cant
   can keep the common man jealous of international controls over his
   belligerent possibilities, so long will he be the helpless slave of the
   foreign threat, and 'Peace' remain a mere name for the resting phase
   between wars."
   H.G. Wells; In The Fourth Year: Anticipations of a World Peace; 1918.

And what is Kruppism? It's an eponym, coined after Alfred Krupp (1812-1887),
German industrialist and armament manufacturer. It implies indiscriminate
trade in arms and war profiteering.

This week's theme: toponyms (words derived from the names of places).

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/zabernism.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/zabernism.ram

Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/zabernism.html

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