Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
The English language grew harder to learn, speak and understand this weekend. ESPN editor Anthony Federico was fired for penning a headline about New York Knicks’ phenom Jeremy Lin (who is American) having a high rate of turnovers, noting that his lack of ball control may be a “chink in his armor.”
As if US - Chinese relations weren’t strained enough, Rep. Judy Chu (D, Calif.) claimed the use of what she called “the C word” (apparently now taking its righteously indignant place among initialized words along side the N word) was a racist slur.
The etymology of the phrase “chink in the armor” goes back to The Middle Ages when men fought in suits of armor. One would look for a chink, as in a hole (chink actually means hole), in the armor of the opponent and attack that weak point, hoping to break through his protection to deliver a kill shot. This action is the same as today’s boxing pugilists who “work the cut” when one develops over an opponent's eye. All of it has absolutely nothing to do with race. Finding a “chink in the armor” of an opponent is a common sports euphemism used by Federico a hundred times in the past, by his own account. Not one Asian congresswoman ever complained about it.
Certainly the word “chink” was later bastardized (my apologies to the children of unmarried couples) into a slur referencing the shape of Asian eyes. That, of course, still has nothing to do with the medieval concept of attacking an opponent’s weak point.
Unfortunately, in today’s America, actual instances of racism are so rare that false allegations of racism are the new racism. We are left with bizarre new English language rules with perplexing vagaries on usage: May I use “chink in the armor” when referring to the weakness in the game of non-Asian basketball players, or has the very meaning of a non-racist phrase been so consumed by the slurred meaning of one of its words that we must never again speak, even with historical accuracy, of the practice developed by the men in armor?
First Amendment be damned – political correctness is forming a list of words we can’t say. Sometimes, the new rules hold that certain people can say words, but others cannot.
Controversy recently surrounded the word “niggardly.” It is a word of Nordic etymology that means a small sum, having nothing to do with race. The N-word* is a slur of Latin etymology (Latin for the color black is niger) that has nothing to do with sums. They aren’t even homonyms as they are spelled differently (note the “er” vs the “ar” difference). At best, they share an inexact phonetic sound, making the two words about as related as Jeremy Lin and Loretta Lynn.
Back in 1999, David Howard was a white aid to black DC mayor Anthony Williams. Howard referred to that year’s budget as “niggardly,” noting of course its size, not its color. Swift came the allegations of racism and Howard tendered his resignation and the Mayor accepted it. What happened next confounds those of us trying to navigate the new language rules. Howard is gay. The gay community lobbied for his reinstatement, and the Mayor offered to re-hire him. I’m not sure if that means gays can’t be racist, blacks can’t fire gays, niggardly is not the N-word for thee but is for me, or something else.
‘Owned” words are now becoming fashionable. For instance, black people are claiming dominion over he N-word.* Recently on “The View,” Sherry Shepard took the position that it is OK for black actress Whoopi Goldberg to pronounce the N-word* in full but not OK for white host Barbara Walters to do it. According to this new English language rule we must not judge one’s speech on the content of their word characters but on the color of their skin.
The owned word rule really took shape when white radio and TV personality Don Imus was fired by MSNBC for joking that the Rutgers girls basketball team, in comparison to their opponents, looked like “nappy headed hos.” The use of the word “ho” in particular was seen as a horrible affront to black women. The issue was so important that NJ Governor Jon Corzine was critically injured in a high-speed car accident as he raced to get to a meeting between Imus and a black pastor to fashion Imus’ public apology.
The same year Imus was fired, the song that won the Oscar was “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.” While lamenting the difficulties of mastering prostitutes, the song, now enshrined in pop culture with such beautiful music as "Over the Rainbow," also referred to black women as “bitches” “niggas” and “hos.” Not one college basketball team complained about it.
Jesse Jackson not too long ago used the N-word* (referring to black people while criticizing President Obama) without a public backlash large enough for him to be fired from whatever it is he does. Jesse apparently owns the N-word* to white exclusion as well.
One very dangerous form of politically correct wordsmithing pits scientists against comedians.
Modern pop culture has a certain affinity for insults, ranging from America’s love for Don Rickles to MTV’s insult contest show “Yo Momma.”
Compare Rahm Emanuel’s use of the word “retarded” to describe Democrats which, according to Sarah Palin, is not OK because he meant it as an insult, and Rush Limbaugh’s use of the word “retarded” to describe Democrats, which Sarah finds OK because he used it as satire.
Let’s look at a definition from The American Heritage Medical Dictionary for context:
mental retardation – Subnormal intellectual development or functioning that is the result of congenital causes, brain injury, or disease and is characterized by any of various deficiencies, ranging from impaired learning ability to social and vocational inadequacy.
There is a cycle that repeats itself in the world of insults, having to do with adopting scientific medical terms and using them as insults. The weird rules that apply to “socially acceptable” insults eventually catches up to the medical dictionary usurpers and the PC police try to shut them down. Some insults, it seems, are just too insulting.
But the usurpers have traditionally won the battle, and the medical terms are removed from the medical books, to live out eternity in the land of misfit words.
For instance, the words idiot, imbecile and moron all started out as medical terminology, not insults. So much a part of the acceptable lexicon were they that the constitutions of Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and New Mexico were written to say an “idiot” can’t vote. New Jersey’s constitution says you can’t vote if you are an “idiot” (before Chris Christie was elected it appeared this provision of the New Jersey Constitution was being fully ignored).
Some words, like midget, are still in medical dictionaries, but with a disclaimer against usage as it is now a pejorative term.
Odd as it seems, America allows the purveyors of insults to trump the purveyors of science in deciding which words are acceptable. Imagine a doctor telling parents of a child, “I’m sorry, your son is an imbecile, idiot and retarded moron, destined to live out his life on public assistance or as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.”
The doctor would have used nothing but scientific terms, but all would agree his bedside manner is atrocious and his civility beneath that of a treating physician. The medical terms are now insults. Don Rickles wins.
It makes you wonder what the world would come to if insult comics were to decide to wreck havoc on our language and eternally chase doctors around the thesaurus.
What if, and this is scary so sit down, but just what if insult comics began abusing the word “challenged?” For instance, “How do you become an American president? Be the most challenged man from Kenya!”
Where, or to what word, will the doctors run next?
Will any of us be left to speak if words that are not racist are used as proof that we are racists?
* Note that I use "N-word" without spelling out the word. I once wrote for a newspaper where spelling out the word was allowable so long as it was being used as an historical reference or to note its usage, so long as it was not written out in insult. I don't know Ricochet's policy on this. Perhaps the editorial board can clarify. For those of you that say it is quite cowardly to force the editors into that sticky wicket and not go there myself, I say, "You're right."
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
And we've become sooooo civilized that we're treated to a 90-year-old Betty White routinely dropping the words that she would have been ashamed to say publicly just 20 years ago. For a language that's been so scrubbed you'd think our culture would be more genteel*.
*Scrubbed from "gentile," and Apple auto correct as noted far down the posting.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 9:26pmJun '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
He who controls the lexicon controls the debate. The problem with politically correct speech is that it's not meant to censor offensive words, but rather to truncate the debate by censoring the ideas behind them.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 4:21pmFeb '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Growing up, we were constantly taught that American English is one of the most complicated language in the world. It is a literal minefield. Great column Tommy!
Mar '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Tommy, Jesse Jackson's occupation has been described as being a "race-hustling poverty pimp."
Note that I mean no disrespect to supervisory personnel in the retail interpersonal relationship industry.
Jun '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
We've reached a pretty pass. Not only should we avoid actual racial slurs, we must now avoid legitimate words that happen to sound like racial slurs. Pretty soon old people will have to avoid all words that could sound wrong if their upper denture slipped while saying it.
The fact that ESPN fired the person who put up the "chink in the armor" headline is merely an indication that the fired employee understands the language better than the politically correct weanies (hope that isn't racially offensive) who run the network.
Mar '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Great post, Tommy. Now excuse me while I go slip Gran Torino into the DVD player.
Dec '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
I may have to watch Blazing Saddles in protest today.
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
The owning of words is another way to keep equality out of the culture. If everyone can say a word, it becomes just a word. Anyone can call anyone else an idiot. It's a word that has lost it's true meaning, and with that, lost any power that was behind it. But if you can keep a word for only a specific group of people to use, you create a divide from the rest of society. It becomes a prize that the group allowed to use it can hold high. And a bridge that the other group can never cross. The word itself, becomes a chink in all our armor.
Jul '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Well I have to hit the slopes today. Maybe I'll have a fag on the lift.
Apr '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Thats what the controversy is about. I only heard of insults but I failed to hear what the insult was supposed to be. A bit silly. I would like to point out that while new words have now become verboten the old 9 words have become less and less insulting. [expletive] is practically the most common verb, adjective, and adverb in the language. Does anyone really care about [expletive] and [expletive]. Language changes taboos change. I say just ride with it...I propose though that whitey claim red neck, cracker, and honky as our words for ourselves...
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 5:33pmAug '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Tommy De Seno:
Some words, like midget, are still in medical dictionaries, but with a disclaimer against usage as it is now a pejorative term.
I am incredibly offended that "midget" is considered a pejorative term. Calling "midget" a pejorative is an insult to me and my kind, and I demand that the insults stop!
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
The question ESPN had to deal with was whether the pun was intentional. The screenshot The Logo saw -- a big picture of Jeremy Lin with the expression in question in headline-sized letters -- looked like it was meant not as an in-passing remark but as a pun.
If it was intentional, then the editor should have been punished, up to and including firing him. That's how it would have been handled around here.
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
The Logo is channeling more Dirty Harry right now: Go ahead. Make my day.
Dec '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
The phrase "chink in the armor" is a time-honored cliche. But then, so is "Achilles' heel," and an even more apt cliche for the writer's thesis. Putting the headline "Chink In The Armor" next to a photo of the highest-profile Chinese-American athlete of the day was a decision made out of either completely misguided playfulness - a deliberate play on the dual meaning of "chink" - or complete ignorance of that dual meaning. In either case, the headline was stunningly stupid: anyone looking at the headline with the picture could easily assume that the writer was talking about Lin himself and not Lin's ball-control skills. "Callin A Spade A Spade" is as time-honored a cliche as "chink in the armor," but would we be defending it as a headline on a story about Black quarterbacks in the NFL?
Aug '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
If it was a pun, then what's the armor? The team's defense?
Certainly the phrase "chink in his armor" doesn't make sense as a pun unless he's wearing armor. Is a basketball uniform armor these days?
Anyhow how did they find out it was meant deliberately? (I don't remember "chink" as a slur until I hear someone use it as a slur. But I suppose the editor in question could be known for a particular sense of humor that makes the pun more likely to have been deliberate.)
Apr '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
We still have the "Midget" division (15-17 yrs) of minor hockey in Canada. The younger levels are "Atom" (9-10), "Bantam" (13-14), and always funny "PeeWee" (11-12). Haven't heard anyone complaining about that name "Midget" after decades of use, other than it being a inverse description of your average 16 year old defenseman raised on a diet of Timbits and poutine.
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Tommy De Seno: The weird rules that apply to “socially acceptable” insults eventually catches up to the medical dictionary usurpers and the PC police try to shut them down. Some insults, it seems, are just too insulting.
But the usurpers have traditionally won the battle, and the medical terms are removed from the medical books, to live out eternity in the land of misfit words.
For instance, the words idiot, imbecile and moron all started out as medical terminology, not insults.
Steven Pinker refers to this as the euphemism treadmill, a brilliant term in my opinion, at least until it becomes offensive to the obese and we have to stop using it.
Mar '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
I wonder how Fatty Arbuckle, Pee Wee Reese, and Zeke "Banana Nose" Bonura feel about this.
Jul '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
The "Midget" division replaced the controversial "Homo" division.
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
You guys are going to get me fired.