[ExI] word of the day

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Bill W:

> Penitentiary - in effect if not in intention, the most misnamed thing of
> all time.
>
> bill w

How so? In what sense is a penitentiary not a place of penance? Do you  
doubt that inmates of penitentiaries have cause to regret their  
crimes? Do you not believe incarceration is a punishment? Or is that  
the inmates are not actually absolved of their crimes by doing their  
time? Since penance and penitentiaries were originally Roman Catholic  
religious concepts involving sin, penance, and absolution. Which as SR  
Ballard points out also made its way into Quaker culture.

Stuart LaForge