English for everyone?

[jenp_97]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, GulPlum <hp at p...> wrote:

> 
> Certainly I, as a native speaker of British English, would 
> consider the two to be very close in meaning, although 
> dictionary definition aside, I'd use "dumb" to refer to 
> someone who is naturally stupid or low in intelligence, 
> whilst  I'd use "ignorant" to refer to someone who is not 
> in possession of complete information. Nevertheless, my 
> usage of "ignorant" would imply absence of quite fundamental 
> knowledge, perhaps due to low intelligence, so the rationale 
> has really gone full circle and we're back to "ignorant"=
> "dumb".
> 
> --
> GulPlum AKA Richard, who's wondering if that makes sense.

Perfect sense.  This is basically the same way I use 
"ignorant" and "dumb"... I seem to use "ignorant" when 
talking about politics and "dumb" when describing something 
I do. ;)  Maybe this means that I don't exactly equate 
"dumb" with natural stupidity (although I suppose that's 
part of it), but rather a sense of carelessness.  I've also 
noticed that in my particular usage, "dumb" is a much less 
pejorative term than "stupid".  I wonder if this is because 
of years of elementary school where teachers didn't allow 
kids to even SAY the word "stupid".

-Jen, who noticed the whom example, but had forgotten it 
by the time she was posting her reply. ;)