Re: [Slightly less Off-topic] Re: Insults (was: PBS show)

[jamesd@echeque.com]

At 01:18 PM 6/15/96 -0000, nelson@crynwr.com wrote:
> But the "crypto-" prefix has an additional
> meaning that may make its use somewhat problematic.  A "crypto-"
> something can be a "fake-" or "hidden-" something.  So if it actually
> became popular to be a geek, you'd have cool people becoming
> crypto-geeks.

Incorrect:  Crypto-something means a hidden something, not fake something:  
Most popular usage is "cryptofascist" since fascism is so terribly 
politically incorrect these days, and many fascists are politically 
correct, so they do not call themselves fascist.

Another common usage is crypto-totalitarian.

A crypto-anarchist could mean either someone who seeks to destroy the state 
by higher mathematics, or someone who conceals his real aim of destroying
the state. 

Because cryptography is in many ways subtle attack on the state, with
consequences
far more radical than is at first apparent, those who seek to destroy the state 
by this means often are not obvious anarchists -- crypto-anarchists are often 
crypto-anarchists.

The intended meaning is usually obvious from context:  I have never seen the
word
crypto-anarchist used in the sense of a secret anarchist.
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