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Of Arabs and tramps

ATLANTIC CITY: The online edition of Roget's Thesaurus struck a listing on Monday for the word "Arab" that gave as synonyms "bag lady," "drifter" and "hobo," after some Arab-American groups complained.

The entry, which appeared on thesaurus.com, listed the word as a noun meaning "beggar," and gave 16 pejorative synonyms. The others were "bindle," "derelict," "floater," "gutterpup," "guttersnipe," "homeless person," "stiff," "street arab," "tramp," "transient," "vagabond," "vagrant," and "welfare bum."

"I looked it up and I couldn't believe what I was seeing," said Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab Forum. — AP

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