OK, the general usage of that phrase in the Subject Field is as a generalization, i.e. "As a breed, people born in France tend to speak French." Or, "As a breed, people who eat too much fast food are fat." Or even, "As a breed, Vanagon owners are <insert phrase of your choice here>."

OK? Is this enough for people to stop filling my inbox with snippy, ignorant stuff like, "I am terribly sorry if I offended anyone but I dont consider myself to fit that description" (referring to my soon-to-be-infamous line about jackdonkeys)?

I mean, it's a generalization! Look at the examples! OBVIOUSLY there are exceptions! I would like to postulate here for posterity, that the folks who have responded to me to point out that they themselves are not "whiny, pedantic jackdonkeys", and that they are "sorry if I consider myself to be [one]", are in fact quite obviously exactly what they claim not to be! What's worse, AS A BREED the people on this list don't need this explained! Here's a link for the others (and fun reading for the smart ones!):

http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html

'Bye, Simon