A Word Beyond The Pale

To the Editor:

It is not unusual for Bee letter-writers to play fast and loose with language. I recall a letter last November that claimed that what was going on at the high school could be characterized as “charity” and “welfare.”  There were no examples, of course, and the claim was made despite the fact that parents pay for all school trips, sports, clubs, etc. — things that were totally free when we went to public school!  Recently another letter-writer claimed that detailing the purposes of paid school positions was merely “semantics.” This is like arguing that if you point out to a doctor that he is giving your mother five different prescriptions, and he patiently explains that one is for diabetes, one for high blood pressure, etc., then he is obfuscating! “Shut up!” you shout. “I don’t care what they are for! The only thing that matters is the number!”

 But last week took the cake. To compare what Boards of Education must do with a “holocaust” is simply beyond the pale.  While the word, from Middle English, originally meant a burnt offering, the word came to mean the wholesale destruction of life by fire. After the 20th Century, it will forever refer to the torture and murder of European Jews by the Nazis, and at most may be applied to other acts of deliberate mass murder of entire groups of people.  It is utterly reprehensible to use the word to describe school budgets.

Michael and Mary Taylor

31 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook                            February 16, 2004