Mihai Caragiu on 31 December writes:

>national hero Lajos Kossuth itself : "For the Romanians I have only
>bullets and cannon", he said. Or perhaps by Count Tisza's feudal and arrogant
>outlook, for which the Romanian was a citizen of the second
>rank, whose mere survival was a proof of the unexampled generosity
>of the "Herrenvolk" (az uralkodo' nemzet). Or by the structure of
>the Transylvanian Diet of Cluj in 1865, in which the Magyars, who
>the formed only 29% of the population, elected 89 deputies as against
>31 Saxons and only 13 Romanians. Or maybe by the 1-year old childrens
>in Ip or Traznea killed after the same `safe haven' was again
>installed on their homeland, after the Vienna Diktat.

Would you care to document your assertions? Verifiable sources and dates
would be very helpful.

The general reader would also have a better appreciation of the election
results if he/she would be told about the election procedures then in
force in Erdely (Transylvania) at the time. You may want to contrast
it with the "election" procedures in Wallachia or Moldova at that time.
Care to comment on the percentage of the Romani vote in these principalities?

By the way, the Romanian government was a signatory to the "Vienna
Diktat"; after all, it was a staunch ally of Hitler as shown by the
large expeditionary force it sent to invade Russia on the side of the Nazis.

CSABA K. ZOLTANI

Szalai Jozsef wrote:

>Where were you the last two weeks Peter?  This Hungarian newsgroup had
>plenty of writers wishing everyone a happy, merry, something or other.
>Where was the writers respect for the creed and customs of those who are not
>religious?  You can't have it both ways.  On the one hand, you want to
>inject a bit of your faith onto this newsgroup by wishing 'merry something'
>to everyone, and then, on the other hand, you get annoyed when someone
>challenges your faith.

So then by banning religious greetings or pressuring religious people to not
offer such greetings, you are not respecting 'the creed and customs' of those
who ARE  religious.  Yes are right with one thing; 'You can't have it both
 ways'.
It seems to me that wishing someone a happy religous observance for a
set of beliefs they don't have cannot disrespect those people; non-religous
people would then consider such holidays to be like Halloween.  Are you
offended by people wiching you Happy Halloween/  I hope not.  If you believe
in the religion then you will be happy about the greeting, if you don't, then
it means nothing to you.  No one is asking or pressuring you into doing some
-thing you don't believe in, so please do not ask others to hide their beliefs,
just as you wouldn't expect someone to hied his political opinions if they
disagreed with yours.

Paul Gelencser

In article >, Joe Szalai
> writes:

>Please don't misunderstand me.  If someone wants to know something about
the
>way Hungarians celebrate St. Nicks day or Christmas day and someone is
>willing to share that information, fine.  I have no problem with that.  I
do
>however get a bit irritated by all the willy nilly greetings that go on
at
>this time of year.  Please respect our differences.
>
>Joe Szalai
>
>

Merry Christmas to all who believe in Christ!  The rest of you may go about tou
r
business.

Mr. Szalai, would you be as 'irritated' if people has been wiching each other
Happy Independence Day or Merry SzDSz Convention or Happy May Day?  Please don'
t
ask me to stop expressing my beliefs - I don't expect you to stop expressing
 yours.

Paul Gelencser

>Though
>Americans really should not be the ones giving lessons on racial hatred, I
>would have to say the difference between racism in the US and Hungary is
>that in Hungary, it is socially acceptable to hold and express racist
>views.

What does 'racist' mean?  Wanting to keep foreigners out is not racism, but
rather a means of preserving worldwide multiculturalism in the face of
intense worldwide pressure of migration - none of us wants every country
to look and feel like every other, as that would be a loss of cultural and
ethnic identity.

Paul Gelencser

> Joe Szalai wrote...

....

> Please don't misunderstand me.  If someone wants to know something about the
> way Hungarians celebrate St. Nicks day or Christmas day and someone is
> willing to share that information, fine.  I have no problem with that.  I do
> however get a bit irritated by all the willy nilly greetings that go on at
> this time of year.  Please respect our differences.

..and how would you propose to respect our differences?

> GarryC. wrote;

***
I do respect your difference, however (I am willing to be corrected if I err)
Christmas is the most widespread festival celebrated, and a portion of the
Special days you mentioned are incorporated into that celebration. And given
that the internet is most prevalent in so called technically advanced
countries, and a vast majority of these have a constitution/laws (whatever)
based on Christianity, I must insist.......

..have a Happy and Peace filled Christmas. (To all)

GarryC.
***

Thank you Garry, and a Happy and Peace filled Christmas to you.

Paul Gelencser

I just discovered that an eight-page edition of the New York Times is on the
Web.

The address: http://www.nytimesfax.com

Eva Balogh

Re: What does the name 'Bela' mean?

Wasn't that easy to find it although I have a whole book on the etymology of
Hungarian names (A nevek vilaga). It seems that all three, Be'l, Be'ld,
Be'la, have something to do with the word "be'l," which then meant "heart."
Today "be'l" unfortunately means something less attractive: intestines. Of
these three names only Be'la is being used today (see Be'la Barto'k, for
example) as a result of early nineteenth-century Romantic attempts to revive
some of the old Hungarian names. And since Hungary had four Be'las as kings,
it was an obvious choice. Istvan Szechenyi was a promoter of naming children
old Hungarian names, and he named his own son Be'la.

Be'l, by the way, is of finno-ugric origin.

Eva Balogh

In article >,
John P. Pagano > wrote:
>Tom Oehser ) wrote:
>: Can anyone tell me the historical meaning of the name 'Bela'?
>: We have named our son Bela, but, (not being Hungarian) we don't
>: know the linguistic history of the name and where it came from.
>
>Shouldn't you have asked this before you went ahead and named your son?
>What if it means "He who is flatulent in the corn field," or something?
>
It was one of only a few names we could agree on.  Also, we wouldn't be
too worried if it *did* mean that.  I take it you have no helpful answers?
-Tom