Date:  Wed, 16 Jul 1997 09:41:47 EST
From:  simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: serial killer

Was anyone else struck by the use of "serial killer" as the label
for the person suspected of murdering Versace?
It seemed to me a kind of semantic limiting (as opposed to extension),
in that, the man they're searching for is accused of/appears to have
killed a number of people and done so one after the other, but
isn't "serial killer" (or killing) different than the sum of the
parts.
He knew the first two personally. The third was (forgive me) "practical"
, and the fourth, again, someone he knew?

Is "serial killer" a way of displacing homophobia?

beth