Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 10:50:32 +0000

From: Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EPIX.NET

Subject: Re: "race" (was PC Dictionaries?the N word? racism? race?)



At 09:08 AM 10/30/97 -0600, you wrote:

I believe the word race used in this context derives from Middle French

or Italian and means something like "generation" (please correct me on

this).



In biology and taxonomy (which is what we are discussing here, whether we

know it or not), race is a subdivision of a species, that is, an organism

that has recognizable genetically transmitted attributes but is not

different enough from others of its ilk to constitute a separate species.

There are races of house sparrows and lab rats and begonias. Another word

for the same thing is sub-species, but I suspect that applied to humans

that could be even more offensive.

Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net

http://www.epix.net/~dcamp/