October 3, 2006

Ha Ha, Malchow Can Use a Racial Slur

But it's okay because he means the actual monkey (this is exactly how the post appears—with the link):
I never had an especially high opinion of Santorum, who in his countenance and his speech always appeared to me to be Central Casting’s interpretation of Republican Politician from Pennsylvania. And this direct mail, which in its argumentation reads as though it were composed by a macaca, piece has sundered my thougts to new lows. Just read David’s tit-for-tat on some of the letter’s most ridiculous points.
Actually, and totally seriously, it's not okay. It's not in the least okay. The point is that the word is being used with the acknowledgment that it is a slur, even if it is based on another thing.

Here's an equivalent:
[Name of a person] writes like a fag.
See! I linked to a picture of a cigarette! I'm being cute! The explicit semantic meaning of my sentence is that so-and-so writes like a cigarette! (Even if the implicit meaning is, "Joe Malchow likes to use racial slurs and pretend they are innocent.")

Nope. Sorry, that doesn't work. Joe should apologize immediately. This is disgusting.

More: I am reminded of this even more disgusting post by Malchow:
John Derbyshire is exactly correct. If you are from an English-speaking nation, you speak English. If you speak English, you pronounce foreign words as standard English pronunciation would dictate. Therefore, the correct pronunciation of ‘latino’ is LAT-in-oh, not La-TEEN-oh. This issue was particularly irritating for me when I was in high school, and I would listen to WNYC (NPR in New York) every morning. The regional news, anchored by good speaker Soterios Johnson (who is from Jersey), features New York beat reporter Cindy Rodriguez. This girl, who grew up in Texas, should not be on the radio. She signed off every report saying, “For WNYC, I’m Cindy Rrrrod-RRRRigeZZ.” I instinctively stopped short whenever I heard that sign-off; thinking that a rabid raccoon- possibly possessed- had somehow entered my truck’s otherwise mild mannered Bose sound system. But no. It is Cindy Rodriguez, Texan. An English-speaker. Doing a report in English. In New York. About New York.

Except for that last clink of unfettered idiotry. Stop it, Cindy Rodriguez, or you shall be forced to change your last name to Smith.

UPDATE: Another bad one is ‘croissant’. I have five years of French training under my belt and can affect a very good French accent. But in America, one orders a cro-SANT.
[My emphases.]

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