Actually, the suffix "phobe" has long been used to mean "hate" rather
than "fear".

Vide Anglophile for a lover of things British, and Anglophobe for one
who disdains them.

Or in the current political climate, Francophile and Francophobe.
(Oops! I almost typed Francophone, which is a chevaux of another
color.)

For pretty obvious reasons, the pejorative Homophobe isn't matched by
its logical opposite, Homophile.

But you're right: the word has been hijacked to suit a political or
social agenda. I immediately tune out anyone who uses "homophobe",
since it's a nonsense term anyhow. Homo of course means same, as in
homogenized or homonym; it has nothing to do with "man" as many seem
to assume--a matter of Greek derivation, not Latin. So Homophobe would
have to mean a fear or hatred of people just like oneself, just as
Homosexual means a sexual attraction to people of the same sex as
oneself.

End of English lesson. Regard it as thanks for all the flight lessons
I have received here.



all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com