From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Thu Jan 14 1999 - 08:13:06 MST
mark@unicorn.com wrote:
> Dick.Gray@bull.com wrote:
> >"Haplophobia"? Fear of halves?
>
> I think the correct spelling is "hoplophobia", but don't know the derivation.
Yes, this is the correct spelling. I goofed. Here is an extract from an article
by Jeff Cooper on the origins of the word (I found it on the Canadian Firearms
Site http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html ) here goes:
> I coined the term hoplophobia over twenty years ago, not out of
> pretension but in the sincere belief that we should recognize a very
> peculiar sociological attitude for what it is -- a more or less
> hysterical neurosis rather than a legitimate political position. It
> follows convention in the use of Greek roots in describing specific
> mental afflictions. "Hoplon" is the Greek word for "instrument," but
> refers synonymously to "weapon" since the earliest and principal
> instruments were weapons. Phobos is Greek for "terror" and medically
> denotes unreasoning panic rather than normal fear. Thus hoplophobia is
> a mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as
> opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them.
>
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