Online thesaurus pulls listing for 'Arab'

[EC]

ATLANTIC CITY (AP) — An online thesaurus struck a listing Monday for the word "Arab" after Arab-American groups complained the entry listed derogatory synonyms.
The entry, which appeared on thesaurus.com, listed the word as a noun meaning "beggar," and gave 16 pejorative synonyms including "homeless person" and "welfare bum."

The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee contacted the synonym book's online publisher Friday to complain about the entry; the American Arab Forum also criticized the listing on Monday.

"I looked it up and I couldn't believe what I was seeing," said Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab Forum, which is based in Paterson.

Several hours after Roget's Thesaurus was called by The Associated Press, all entries for "Arab" had been pulled from the site.
more>
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-22-thesaurus-arab_x.htm


I have nothing to say, I'm speechless....

[KyndCulture]

1. MY GOD..... I am speechless too.... nt.

[redqueen]

2. I've never heard any of those usages.

What the hell?

[achtung_circus]

6. Sherlock Holmes

used a group of homeless boys as operatives and surveillance teams. They were "street Arabs".

[KyndCulture]

3. makes me wonder what other racial slurs there are...

I use that site everyday for writing in my blog.

[EC]

5. maybe, the next time you are there,

check out other words...I looked at the thesaurus Word because I use it for my crosswords at work, it didn't even have another word for Arab...

[HamdenRice]

4. I think in some contexts it used to be like gypsy ...

I was reading a collection of short stories about Brooklyn, including one by HP Lovecraft, and he used "Arab" kind of the way people use "gypsy" as both an ethnic term and derogatory term. I think it comes from the fact that many Arabs were peddlers in turn of the century eastern cities.

Nevertheless, it's inexcusable today. But I don't think they were just making it up to be racist.

[Dora]

7. I bet you're right

And I'll look it up in my printed-and-bound Roget's this afternoon, to see what the context was.

[EC]

12. Okay, you're right

since it is so antiquated I didn't even think of gypsies...but yeah now it makes sense .......if we were living in the 19th century...

On edit: besides, I kinda have a history with being called a gypsy - so blocked it from my mind...(my late, ex-mother-in-law called me a gypsy because I have pierced ears and am dark with black hair )

[kittenpants]

8. was this a wikipedia type of thesaurus for users to add synonyms

or were these 'official' meanings? That's disgusting either way, but it's even harder to believe if it made its way past numerous editors.

[KyndCulture]

10. no, it's Roget's online...

I looked and didn't find any other racial slurs. Gypsy says vagabond but that's pretty universally accepted...

[Mairead]

9. Nationalist cultures have been screwing tribal ones for a thousand years

Why should it surprise that the dehumanisation necessary to enable the screwing is reflected in our vocabulary? A thesaurus only reflects what's already there.

[greyl]

11. several thousand years ;) nt