In the thread "Ex-Muslims on Islamic Mindset" in the "Islam - questioned defended and explained" forum, I remarked on something in a video posted by pr: the old "Islam means peace/submission" confusion and wondered whether the Arabic language really was to blame. It led me to propose a little competition, if anyone is interested:
One thing I noticed in the video was Robert Spencer's citing one aspect of the Muslim mindset - almost as if he accepted it as natural. That is, the oft-repeated argument that two words mean (if the speaker wishes it) the same thing because they have the same root. In his example, submission and peace.
This makes me wonder: is this an inevitable consequence of the Arabic language's having (or having had) not only a defective script but such massive built-in ambiguity that native Arabic speakers find logical reasoning difficult? Or is it all a sham put up by apologists for Islam and its books?
I'm trying to think of English words that could be but are not treated in the same way: probably from Latin roots but possibly Norse or Germanic. It must be much easier to concoct something when you're trying to make a point but searching one's mental dictionary is much more difficult. So might I suggest a little competition? Who can come up with the best example of divergent words from the same root - not necessarily suitable for fudging an argument? I can't send anyone a prize on New Year's Day, but the winner and all entries will get my thanks!
Rather than derail this thread, anyone with suggestions please go to my post "Two languages of ambiguity" in Food for Thought.
Are there any takers? Happy brain-wracking!