From: usenet@delete.this.baradel.demon.co.uk   
      
   In message <1muab2n39j9j8$.1thrcwqcjqc09$.dlg@40tude.net>, Brian M.   
   Scott  writes   
   >   
   >There's nothing particularly euphemistic about the use of   
   > to mean 'reduce a population by killing off some of   
   >its members'.  Indeed, it's a natural development from the   
   >sense 'select for quality', which in turn was a natural   
   >development from 'gather together, collect' (as in Latin   
   >, from which  derives via Old French   
   > and Middle English ).  The intended result   
   >of culling a herd or other animal population is often to   
   >improve its overall quality, and a shift of focus from those   
   >positively selected to those negatively selected is rather   
   >natural in that context.   
   >   
   It's euphemistic in the sense that the proposed badger "cull" involves   
   the slaughter of *all* badgers in the target area. Also, though deer   
   culls on a well-managed estate will indeed be targeting old, frail or   
   sickly beasts, culling of pests involves indiscriminate slaughter.   
      
   Helen   
   --   
   Helen, Gwynedd, Wales *** http://www.baradel.demon.co.uk   
      
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