DEAR ABBY: On Feb. 5 you referred to someone as a "controlling, slave-driving witch." A lot of people in the Wiccan community, practitioners of Wicca, use the term "witch" with positive connotations. There are several slur words that I heard growing up that I would never dream of using these days because of how society has changed. Please help to spread the word.
It took years of fighting the system, but we are now recognized by the VA and included on headstones with other religious symbols.
And by the way, in our religion, the word "warlock" is an insult that means "oath breaker." "Witch" is a gender-neutral name. -- PROUD MALE WITCH AND VETERAN
DEAR PROUD MALE WITCH AND VETERAN: I hope that you and other members of the Wiccan religion will forgive my lapse, which was made out of ignorance. I used the term "witch" as a substitute for the word I wanted to use because my editors told me that referring to a woman in that way is not acceptable in family newspapers.