Monica Hesse, “Rove’s ‘Mob’ Remark: An Age-Old Social Slur” (Washington Post, Aug. 15, 2007)
“With most words you expect to have some change in semantics,” says Ben Zimmer, the editor for Oxford University Press’s American dictionaries. “This one has stayed surprisingly similar to its pejorative roots.”
Read the rest here. (Related OUPblog column)