http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090219/tc_afp/francejewsetradeebayinterneteBay renames 'yellow star' after 'Nazi' complaint

PARIS (AFP) - Internet auction house eBay has temporarily renamed the yellow stars it uses to evaluate sellers on its French site after a complaint that the symbol had anti-semitic connotations.

The move came after French eBay user Dominique Bellamy wrote to the company earlier this month to point out that during World War II the Nazis made Jews wear a yellow star on their clothes as a discriminatory mark.

His wife Francoise Bellamy told AFP Thursday that her husband "refused to be be given a yellow star, even a virtual one.

"It brought back bad memories of the occupation" of France by Germany during World War II, she said.

eBay's star system is used to show how many positive ratings a buyer or seller has received from the site's users. The yellow star is the lowest of the 12-point scale, and a silver shooting star is the top score.

On the company's French site the lowest rating was shown Thursday as a yellow star, but was listed as a "first star" (in French, "premiere etoile").

But on English language versions the lowest rank was still called the yellow star.

eBay said in an email to AFP that "the yellow star is part of a series of achievement stars that eBay users get. This system is used worldwide on all eBay sites."

It said that "no definitive change has been decided yet" on future use in France of the yeollow star, and that "there have been no such complaints in other countries."...and France surrenders (of course).

It seems this plague is no longer contained within U.S. borders. I wonder when German will be outlawed, because the Nazis spoke it, and people desperately want to prove to other people that they're not Nazis.

Yeah, imagine that. The French people being polite. What is the world coming to?

Yeah, imagine that. The French people being polite. What is the world coming to?
Political, almost sounds like polite. Don't it?

I'm sure the etymology is similar even.

But even words that are the same as the same word, have different meanings.

For example the word, mean.

It could mean an average. The mean house price is X.
It could mean intention. I meant to say that.
It could mean demeanor. I was mean.
It could mean definition. Mean means mean.

To me, political means, that I do things, or you do things, that make people LIKE you, or at least support you. So, in this regard it is like being polite, I suppose. But not really.

For example, if I am being political...I could say, "I hate George Bush". So that people who like to hate George Bush will like me. But there is nothing polite about that. I am just being political.

Or I could say, "I love African Americans". Instead of saying, "I love Negros". Because we have been taught that people, especially Negros, will not like us if we use the word Negro. Even though an African American is a Negro. One is politically correct(meaning that people will like me), and one is not(people will think that I lynch Negros and burn Jews). Even though they are just words that describe the same thing.