Words and their meaning Like your confusion over the meaning of homophobia Bugs you ve shown by your comments about homicide on WP ANI that you don t seem to understand how the English language actually works The most obvious thing is to point out that prefixes and suffixes like homo homi and cide are NOT governed by fixed rules maintained by some authority Secondly even given generally observed rules as to the meanings of certain prefixes and suffixes actual usage whether intentional on the part of the coiner definitional drift or simply by being idioms determines actual meanings Finally for actual legal terms those ARE given specific definitions which may or may not match logical combinations your impressions or even popular usage For the last one I ll point you to the Cornell University School of Law Homicide is when one human being causes the death of another Not all homicide is murder as some killings are manslaughter and some are lawful such as when justified by an affirmative defense like insanity or self defense This is Wikipedia Bugs words mean what reliable sources say they mean not what you d like them or how you ve work them out in your mind to mean If you re going to proclaim you understand the meaning of word you need to check first Talk Your opinion has been noted and logged What s up Doc carrots Without affirmation that Bugs doesn t seem to know how the English language works that s a bit strong imo he is right for 99 of the time that the word homicide is used My input here to be helpful is that I have seen the death certificates of state executed convicts which are correctly labeled homicide as the cause of death It is rare but does affirm that homicide does not always mean murder talk Right And I didn t say always I said typically What s up Doc carrots George Weinberg psychologist invented the term homophobia and it s clear enough that he used phobia in the normal way irrational fear What s up Doc carrots