From: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: An interesting word derivation Article-I.D.: qubix.169 Posted: Fri Mar 18 16:46:35 1983 Received: Tue Mar 22 06:41:59 1983 References: eagle.815 The statement on "cretin" was incomplete, cf Webster's New World Dict.: "[< Fr. dial form of chretien, Christian, hence human being]" Further, note that it derived during the well-named Dark Ages, when the Anabaptists were persecuted. Too, it's been a while since I saw a drinking "bout" at a "symposium."