[MR] Public use of the term "medieval"

[Anthony Bryant]

On Jul 24, 2009, at 7:16 AM, Garth G. Groff wrote:

> Friends,
>
> At the risk of stirring up the dead horse, something mentioned in  
> the posts on the pentagrams has been bothering me. Several people  
> reported that some prejudicial civilians reacted to the word  
> "medieval" and associated it with devil worship or other nasty  
> things (often called "S_t_atanic" here in the south!). Of course,  
> there is nothing wrong with this word, and probably most of us it to  
> describe our interests. I'm wondering if we wouldn't be better off  
> making a conscious effort to substitute "middle ages", or the more  
> complete (but wordy) "middle ages and renaissance" in any  
> conversations with those outside our group. In fact, we might be  
> wise to eliminate it completely from our in-society conversations as  
> well. This might help avoid slips. I realize this isn't likely to  
> happen, and it wouldn't be easy, but it is something worth thinking  
> about.

The trouble is, "Middle ages" is a NOUN. "Mediaeval" is an ADJECTIVE.

We don't replicate "middle ages life" -- we study "mediaeval life."'

There comes a point where you just have to realize there are idiots  
out there. You can try to educate them, but there are idiots.



Effingham