From LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET Sat Mar 6 22:49:26 2010 Reply-To: bob@rattlesnake.com Sender: Lojban list Date: Tue Apr 15 11:05:02 1997 From: bob@MEGALITH.RATTLESNAKE.COM Subject: Re: "suicide" X-To: sbelknap@uic.edu X-cc: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: (message from Steven Belknap on Wed, 9 Apr 1997 18:43:24 -0500 (CDT)) X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 726 X-From-Space-Date: Tue Apr 15 11:05:02 1997 X-From-Space-Address: - Message-ID: The Oxford English Dictionary defines the *noun* suicide as: One who dies by his own hand; one who commits self-murder. Also, one who attempts or has a tendency to commit suicide. The OED is wrong here, at least for the current era. Nowadays, in middle class, educated conventional use, a `suicide' (the noun) refers to one who succeeds in dying. A person with tendencies towards committing suicide is `suicidal'; a person who has tried but did not die is some who `attempted to commit suicide'. Wittgenstein was suicidal, but not a suicide. -- Robert J. Chassell bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu 25 Rattlesnake Mountain Road bob@rattlesnake.com Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA (413) 298-4725