Re: Not always joking, it seems

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:33:39 -0500, Sean O'Hara <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>In the Year of the Earth Rat, the Great and Powerful Mike Schilling 
>declared:
>> Sean O'Hara wrote:
>>>>>
>>> Partisan -noun [...] 2. Military. a member of a party of light or
>>> irregular troops engaged in harassing an enemy, esp. a member of a
>>> guerrilla band engaged in fighting or sabotage against an occupying
>>> army.
>>>    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=partisan
>>>
>>> Haven't you ever seen a movie about the French Resistance in WWII?
>> 
>> They weren't foreign terrorists, but disaffected Americans. 
>
>Note the "esp." in that definition -- partisans don't *have* to be 
>engaged against foreign invaders. Quantrill's Raiders, Sandinistas, 
>and FARC are partisans.

As are, at least the native, insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

>> :We use 
>> "partisan" both in the sense you give and to mean dedicationm to a 
>> political party that's expressed in all ways short of violence. 
>> Brunner's innovation was to combine the two. 
>> 
>
>The only thing that strikes me as innovative about it is that people 
>didn't use it to mean, "terrorists I agree with".
-- 

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Tim Merrigan