From: utzoo!decvax!cca!dee
Newsgroups: net.followup
Title: Re: atheism vs. Communism
Article-I.D.: cca.4255
Posted: Tue Jan 18 10:45:33 1983
Received: Thu Jan 20 07:02:07 1983
References: yale-com.660

In reply to Steve Wagar, deriving the meaning of a word from its
structure/entymology is cute but frequently wrong.  People don't use the
word atheist to mean just devoid of theism or belief in a God but to mean
an active belief that there is no God.  If you want to communicate with
people it is normally best in non-poetic applications to use the commonly
accepted meaning of a term among your intended audience.
	For another example of a word that does not have the meaning
one might expect from its construction, look at antibiotic.  If you
didn't know better, you would say it was equivalent to poison or toxic
substance since it is anti- anything that is biological (biotic).
			Donald Eastlake (dee!decvax!cca)