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To: the invisib1e hand
I think using a single phrase as a base for estimating (or discarding) intelligence may be a tad myopic, don't you think? While I personally would have used a different phrase, that is largely linguistic semantics. It is like someone refering to the magazine of a pistol as a 'clip' ...most firearms enthusiasts will automatically discredit the person (usually a journalist who cannot differentiate between an air pistol, a kalashnikov, and a late '70s Volkswagen), but they wil not say the gun is cr@p because someone referred to its magazine as a 'clip' rather than using the correct lexicology. Same thing here ...someone talking about 'pimping' technology doesn't mean that they are exuding a certain 'inner city mentality' (I am really trying to parse my words LOL). Actually, you would be surprised about some of the opinions young educated Africans (both in the US and in Africa) have about urban American youth (again, really parsing word choice). A linguistic allusion that may be taken in, or exude a, negative context from a certain perspectives(e.g. 'pimping' something as seen from the lens of American urban youth) cannot be broadly applied evaluate the intellect (or lack of) of a different culture, particularly when the individual who made the comment is doing something with himself or herself that 92% of those who would use the same exact phrase in an 'urban American setting' wouldn't be doing anything similar. It is like Apple's Steve Jobs using the word 'bling' ...quite a dollop of difference compared to the same word (with the same meaning) being used in Compton.
8 posted on 07/12/2011 7:00:54 AM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: spetznaz
I think using a single phrase as a base for estimating (or discarding) intelligence may be a tad myopic, don't you think?

Nope. But I do think oil and water will mix before you'll get my point.

9 posted on 07/12/2011 7:37:00 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand ("America will cease to be great when America ceases to be good." -- Welcome to deToqueville.)
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