Greetings:

Erich wrote:
> However, a very low risk for atherosclerosis, due to diet,
> supplementation, lifestyle and/or genetics, may obfuscate the need to
> worry about the risk of taking powerful systemic aromatase inhibitors
> like quercetin in relation to atherosclerosis in men.

Paul wrote:
> Note: I think you mean "reduce" or "minimize" instead of
> "obfuscate" above, which means to confuse or disguise.

Actually you are right, but I was under the impression that obfuscate
can also mean:

To render indistinct or dim; darken:
(http://www.answers.com/obfuscate&r=67)

which is what I was trying to say in that the worry might probably
still exist, but a person's NEED to worry about it could be rendered
indistinct. By I now see that my word choice was poor. :)

[Actually I knew that was one of the meanings of "obfuscate", but it was your
use of the word "need" which threw me. If you had said something like "may
obfuscate the reasoning behind the need to worry about the risk ..." then I
would not have considered any correction was required. Still this is an example
of the problems with current English usage - many words just have far too many
meanings. So not only is English the language with the most words with different
nuances of meanings between them (which is good), but because of so many people
using words in such distorted and incorrect ways (to which the dictionaries
respond by including those meanings, rather than by operating to keep the
language unambiguous and simply including new words with new meanings) English
is fast becoming the language with more separate meanings per word (and some
even diametrically opposed) than any other language. Orwell's idea of
"doublespeak" in his novel "1984" which was always true for politics is fast
becoming the norm in all writing and conversation. Because of such ambiguities
real social communication is becoming more and more difficult every day. --Paul]

[As Paul verbalized to me while writing the above about Orwell's doublespeak, I
also thought of the character in the old Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys movies played
by Leo Gorcey, Muggs/Slip Mahoney (The Chief). He was held in awe by his fellows
whenever he used long words that none of them knew (but sounded impressive) and
consequently didn't recognize as being totally out of place. The words were
often similar in sound to the one that would be appropriate, but the fact that
the other "Boys" were so impressed made the usage even more humorous for the
audience. Paul remembered these movies too and we had a chuckle recalling them.
(A web search revealed that there were far more of these movies made than we
realized, from late 30's to late 50s.) **Kitty]


Warmly

Erich Brueschke

PS You don't have to post this to the group if you think it is
pointless to the purpose of morelife. I just wanted to clarify my
choice of words in that post.

[As you can see, I thought it very worthwhile to respond and to make a more
general related point. --Paul]