Date:  Thu, 30 Oct 1997 10:50:32 +0000
From:  Duane Campbell <dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EPIX.NET>
Subject: Re: "race" (was PC Dictionaries?the N word? racism? race?)

At 09:08 AM 10/30/97 -0600, you wrote:
>I believe the word race used in this context derives from Middle French
>or Italian and means something like "generation" (please correct me on
>this).

In biology and taxonomy (which is what we are discussing here, whether we
know it or not), race is a subdivision of a species, that is, an organism
that has recognizable genetically transmitted attributes but is not
different enough from others of its ilk to constitute a separate species.
There are races of house sparrows and lab rats and begonias. Another word
for the same thing is sub-species, but I suspect that applied to humans
that could be even more offensive.
Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net
http://www.epix.net/~dcamp/