(October 15, 2013 at 8:31 pm)bennyboy Wrote:Nope. "A" in front of anything, means "absence of".(October 15, 2013 at 11:05 am)Bucky Ball Wrote: a-symmetrical : the absence of symmetryThe other two are poor parallels, because they don't have the same issue with ambiguity, e.g.:
a-symptomatic : the absence of symptoms
a-theism : the absence of theism
a + sym + metric(al) = not + same + measure
(a + sym) + metric(al) = (not same) measure
a + (sym + metric(al)) = not (same measure)
Which are so close that you wouldn't worry about the difference.
The point is that "sym" is not a root, as "theos" is. "sym" is a prefix, and so is "a-." If you can find another case where "a-" is attached to a root rather than to another prefix, you'd have the same ambiguity issue.
That is the pattern. What was your SAT score ?
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell 
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist
