Meryl Dorey recently had this to say on twitter:
Skeptics - when I said that measles in Sanskrit is gift from a goddess - I meant the SANSKRIT word for measles - work it out for yourselves!
Yeah, obviously it was us misunderstanding your statement, not you being wrong.
For the record, here's Meryl's original statement, which she's repeated several times:
Did you know: Measles in Sanskrit translates as "Gift from a Goddess" because huge developmental and growth spurts often followed infection.
Protip, Meryl. The only places I can find that "fact" is antivax websites. You're just repeating, verbatim, the usual way.
Here's what Weez had to say:
".@nocompulsoryvac 'Measles' Sanskrit for 'Visit from goddess'? False: The Sanskrit word for measles is मसूरिका, transliterates to 'masuurikaa' http://is.gd/bmSbQ.
The Sanskrit word for goddess is देवि (devi)."
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/qe1th
And here's what I've got to say, via WC Rucker:
'This is one of the oldest ailments with which man has been afflicted. Infact the word "measles" traces its genealogy back through the German"masern" to the Sanskrit "masura," a word meaning "spots.'
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/9/6/19965/19965.htm
Dave The Happy Singer spent some time googling up the attribution of this, and here's what he had to say:
The only people on ENTIRE FUCKING INTERNET who think this are Meryl Dorey and...
...Viera Scheibner.
No wonder she's terrified of having an evidence-based debate with Tom: she doesn't know the first thing about fact-checking
There's a sanskrit translator at http://spokensanskrit.de/ - try it out for yourself.
Now, Meryl, you may STFU, you ignoramus.
posted @ Saturday, April 17, 2010 1:57 PM