FWIW: I was once taken to task on this site for referring to the atmosphere as being like that of a "lynch mob." Those interested in the origin of this term might read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching

It apparently originated in the Revolutionary War era and had nothing to do with blacks or, for that matter, death. This being a Wikipedia article, it's always possible that the information was placed by radicals sympathetic to the Confederacy or for other political motivations, but it's interesting.

Examples? I fear I might be missing something.

Interesting article indeed. There are just a lot people here with nothing Maemo-related to, so we come here out of habit and get feisty.

We all used to simply agree that people who used iPhones should be lynched. What is the world coming to?

You may be. If you think the Wikipedia article needs examples, feel free to post that request in Wikipedia somewhere.

If you want an example of my being upbraided for saying there was a lynch mob atmosphere -- I have no desire to dredge up old grievances, I just thought the article was interesting.

By the way, the part I wanted to refer to was the "Etymology" part.

What a word means during it's origin and what it means a few centuries later can change drastically.

Relax geneven. I can't believe you're creating a thread over one of my opinions. Flattering, but pointless.

Since both parties are now in the thread, I think it's now reasonable to quote the post that this thread is responding-without-responding to:
WRT "lynching", I see only a statement that its use here is hyperbole (undisputed, I hope?) and the implication that an actual lynching is an injustice of an inordinately higher level than whatever forum issues started the mess.

While I don't really consider hyperbolic metaphors an "insult" to lynchees, I just don't see how implies a relation "to do with blacks or, for that matter, death", either. I mean, there's a huge array of injustices bigger than anything that goes on in a voluntary-participation forum, including, but surely not limited to, death, and none of them need be racially motivated.

It was all about perspective.