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Comment by joe24pack | Hacker News Reader

Yes that is all too true. When I can get on a commercial flight without having to take off my shoes, have my toiletries inspected and having an intrusive full body xray taken, then I'll know we have finally defeated Osama bin Laden and his compatriots.

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What do you have against his compatriots?

What do you have for his compatriots ?

A compatriot is someone from his own country. Maybe the OP didn't mean to use the word with that meaning. Osaba bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia. Suggesting there's nothing in favour of anyone born in Saudi Arabia is just plain wrong.

I'm pretty sure he didn't mean compatriot in that sense. He meant it more in the sense of 'comrade' - ie, an ally or partner.

The specific meaning of "compatriot" as "fellow national or fellow citizen" is not commonly used in the U.S. Speaking generally, "compatriot" is more often equated to meaning "partner in crime" or something similar. It generally has a negative connotation.

Paint me surprised. This supposedly common meaning is absent from the main online dictionaries (Merriam-Webster, Word Reference, Free Online Dictionary) and my paper one (Harrap's).

It is, however, in the Mac's built-in dictionary, which is The New Oxford American Dictionary.

http://www.wordnik.com/words/compatriot

Second definition from American Heritage Dictionary:

2. A colleague.

Just noticed this, it uses compatriots in the negative context I mentioned: http://www.slate.com/id/2292724/

Please don't be a pedantic nitpicker, it lowers the general level of the discussion (I realize the irony in this very comment doing the same). It's quite obvious that he meant 'compatriot' as 'co-conspirator' or something in that vein, not as in 'everybody who happens to live in the same country'. And even if he did, he'd be such an extremist that you wouldn't be able to reason with him anyway; in which case just ignoring that part would be best.

Sorry, I didn't know about the colloquial misuse of "compatriot" for "co-conspirator" or "buddy in crime" (??) etc.

I realized I was replying to a tangential remark, but it wasn't just language nitpicking. The implication that the US were in war against the people in the country that Bin Laden happened to be from, was serious enough not to let it go unchallenged.

What, Saudi Arabia?

Osama Bin Laden was stripped of his citizenship in 1984, he didn't have compatriots.

(source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/02/world/20110502...)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compatriot

definition 2

I see. I had checked it in Google define: and dictionary.reference.com, but not on that one. My apologies for the misunderstanding. I didn't intend to derail this into a discussion on language.

hacker news should have ways to collapse/fold sections of the comments when discussions about a word definition, although valid, may not interest everyone in a discussion thread about the alleged death of Osama

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