[Buddha-l] What's wrong with a little Dharma?

[F.K. Lehman (F.K.L. Chit Hlaing)]

No, in all likelihood, for most (US) users, the term 'Brit' is not 
'derogatory', but rather it is dismissive; a sort of short form of 
B\'Briton' or (equally questionable) 'Britisher' that either serves 
as equivalent to a diminutive form or simply a 'slang'/ strictly 
informal form, rejecting any acknowledgement that the real, full, 
formal term deserves use for basically 'silly foreign' people. Thus, 
for many speakers, it is not the very word 'Brit' that offends but 
rather its use in what one may call serious, semi-formal, perhaps 
even quasi-scholarly discourse or discussion as, for instance, on a 
scholarly Listserv such as Buddha-l.
-- 
F. K. L. Chit Hlaing
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign