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From: Peregrine Mendoza <101653.2205@CompuServe.COM>[Peter Brookesmith]
Date: 09 Apr 97 08:45:10 EDT
Fwd Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 23:15:04 -0800
Subject: Re: First Use of the term 'flap' [Curtis Peebles]

The Duke of Mendoza presents his compliments.

> Subject: Re: First Use of the term 'flap' [Curtis Peeble
> Date: Tue, 8 Apr 97 17:29:22 -0000
> From: Bob Rickard <rickard@forteantimes.com>
> To: "UFO UpDates - Toronto" <updates@globalserve.net>

> In the FT office we make a handy distinction between 'sceptics'
> in the old Greek sense of 'being unsure about something' ... as
> represented here by Rebecca's position, and 'skeptics' in the
> more militant and modern sense expressed by Greg and CSICOP.

It may be a handy distinction, but it happens to have nothing to do
with the "old Greek sense" of the word. Liddell and Scott give two
meanings for "skeptomai" (the reflexive verb from which "skeptic"
derives) in archaic Greek:

I:  to look about, look carefully at, look after, watch.
II: (of the mind) to look into, view, examine, consider.

There is NO connotation of uncertainty. In modern Greek you would
use "skeptomai" to say "I think..." when you mean it is your
considered opinion or when describing the act of thinking; the archaic
connotations of being thoughtful and circumspect remain. If you
wanted to say "I think it's three o'clock" but you don't have a
watch and are not really sure, you'd probably use "fantazomai", or
possibly "pistevo".

Back to the original point: in "FSR's World Roundup of UFO Sightings
and Events" (1958) "flap" crops up on page 221: "December 1957 -
Sputniks bring biggest saucer flap in history". A quick skim didn't
turn up an earlier use in that book, and someone else may have used
it earlier; but it does have a British ring.

best wishes
O Periplanios, O Doukas tou Mendozou