Re: Looking at Zwave products and need recommendations?

[Marc F Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 10:50:36 GMT, nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston) wrote in
message  <431ac7a4.252021757@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

>"E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Dave: You started this with "If you weren't technically incompetent and
>>illiterate."  As someone mentioned, that's ad hominim at its best.
>
>I'm sorry you feel that way so I'll try to persuade you to another view.
>
>Over the past 15-20 years the latin term "ad hominem" has been used by a
>certain segment of the population to attack those with whom they disagree
>(as it has been used here).
>
>Unfortunately, those who fling it at others have never looked up its
>definition. Since your spelling of the term was incorrect, I'll provide a
>URL to the definition at dictionary.com.
>
>     http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ad%20hominem

<snip discussion of "illiterate" etc>

>Those who fling the term "ad hominem" without also providing a logical and
>reasonable argument that address the issues are, in truth, guilty of ad
>hominem attacks. I am not.
>
>BTW, "ad hominem" is never "at its best".

BTW, seems to me Dave that expounds about what he has Googled up (yet again).

_Ad_hominem_ is a Latin phrase that means "to the man" and by usage of the
times, "the person".

It has long been used as shorthand for _argumentum_ad_hominem"  (an
argument/point directed to/at a/the person).

Dave can't be writing about me because I don't "fling it at others" and I
indeed "looked up its definition' both in English and Latin long before the
"past 15-20 years" Dave refers to.

(  With only one year of Latin in college, I've had fewer years of education
in Latin than either of my parents, either of my children and my only sibling,
but I do know what the phrase means. My father taught Latin while I was
growing up and Latin phrases continue to be common parlance in our family.
This is/used to be relatively common in contexts in which several European
languages are/were spoken because using Latin can help to clarify false
cognates and false friends. -- e.g., Spanish "embarazada", "constipado",
"contestar", "desgracia", and so on.

This is not snobbism or an effete affectation.. When one lives in an
environment in which more than one language is required to get along well in
daily life, knowing the _lingua_mater_ of those languages is an efficient way
to learn what you have to learn in order to get though the day.)

When Dave called me a SOB (abbreviation for "Son Of a Bitch") Dave was making
an _ad_hominem_ statement regardless of whatever arguments he *also* might
make based on:

 - authority (_argumentum_ab_auctoritate_) or
 - the matter at hand (_argumentum_ad_rem_) or
 - an appeal to envy (_argumentum_ad_invidiam_)

and so on. His long-time use of the latter is revealing in my opinion.

Some folks would also say that he is making an "ad feminam" comment (in a
contemporary sense) about my mother which may be acceptable in his culture but
is not in mine.

So I dunno why Dave writes ' BTW "ad hominem" is never "at its best" '

When the problem is the person --  as Dave amply demonstrates *he* IS with his
continued antisocial behavior that chases good folks from this newsgroup --
_ad_hominem_ discussion is relavent. (preceding word misspelled so Dave has
something factual to cavil about).

HTH ... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org