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:
Dec '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
awksedperl
Well, the culture in the U.S. is still pretty gentile, but could stand to be a good bit more genteel. · 4 minutes ago
I am pretty sure that Betty White, who posed nude early in her career, has always been comfortable using salty language. What I wouldn't give to have listened in on the private games of Password she and Alan Ludden must have held in their home with their friends!
Aug '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
If anything, I'd find using "callin' a spade a spade" when talking about black athletes an even more obscure insult than using "chink in the armor" when talking about Asian athletes. Is "spade" a derogatory term for black person?
Once again, Canada restores my faith in humanity ;-)
Dec '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
It's a minefield out there! We obviously need a wiki style style guide to be able to communicate without this distraction. I know latino or hispanic is offensive, but I cannot remember which one. Is "negro" a second "n word". Open mouth, get fired.
Apr '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Stuart Creque
I am pretty sure that Betty White, who posed nude early in her career, has always been comfortable using salty language. What I wouldn't give to have listened in on the private games of Password she and Alan Ludden must have held in their home with their friends! · 11 minutes ago
I heard, back in the '70s, the same thing, that she's always had a filthy mouth off-camera. Of course now she'd be nothing special, and probably even a bit tame by today's standards.
Mar '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Ed.: Comment deleted.
Edited on February 21, 2012 at 10:53pmAug '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Stuart Creque
Or did ESPN do the right thing in recognizing that an employee, whether from malice or incompetence, posted content on its website that could be interpreted as racially offensive, and pulled the content because of the harm it might do to the network's reputation and business?
I don't doubt that it's possible that firing the editor was the right business decision. I just find myself bemused and slightly frightened by the furor that this less-than-felicitous headline has caused.
Maybe because I know that I could say or write something like that, without ever noticing the double entendre until someone pointed it out to me, simply because I'm unfamiliar with using racial and ethnic slurs.
Of course, I'm not an editor. And maybe sports writers are used to saltier language and so would presumably have a harder time not noticing the pun. But under the pressure of deadlines, headlines with embarrassing double meanings are a fairly regular occurrence. How often do they result in firing?
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Stuart Creque
I agree.
If ESPN was wrong to fire Federico for writing that headline, doesn't that mean they should not have taken that headline down from their website? If the words couldn't possibly be taken to be offensive, wouldn't the proper course for ESPN to tell everybody to lighten up and knock off the PC garbage? Or did ESPN do the right thing in recognizing that an employee, whether from malice or incompetence, posted content on its website that could be interpreted as racially offensive, and pulled the content because of the harm it might do to the network's reputation and business?
I'll always say the business owner has the right to the public face of his business.
But remember I'm part of the opining public too. If ESPN wants a high opinion among race baiters they have it, but they risk getting a lowered opinion among we who understand the concept of metaphor.
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Apple auto correct is becoming the absolute bane of my existence! (Or, if I were Mitt Romney, the Bain of my existence!)
Mar '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
EJHill
Apple auto correct is becoming the absolute bane of my existence! (Or, if I were Mitt Romney, the Bain of my existence!) · 0 minutes ago
Ricochet Breaking News:
EJHill "Pretty Gentile" Comment Sexist Members Say
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Here's the problem with the whole Rush/ESPN imbroglio: The face of the late, lamented ABC Sports was Howard Cosell. Cosell was not an ex-jock nor a trained broadcaster. He was a lawyer.
ESPN has inherited the mantle of Roone Arledge and ABC. Everybody and his brother is out to find the next Cosell. But those in charge don't have Arledge's stones and bail at the first sign of controversy.
The main difference, of course, is that Cosell was a liberal, who defended both the draft-dodging Cassius Clay and the black power salute at the '68 Mexico City Games. It was easier for Arledge to stick by a New York Jewish Lawyer than his successors defending a white Republican from the Ozarks.
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Casey
Ricochet Breaking News:
EJHill "Pretty Gentile" Comment Sexist Members Say· 9 minutes ago
That wasn't any pretty Gentile, that was my wife.
Jun '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Casey
Ricochet Breaking News:
EJHill "Pretty Gentile" Comment Sexist Members Say· 2 minutes ago
Which reminds me of a funny Mormon/Jewish comment a friend of mine made. Background: I have a good friend, a rabbi's son from Illinois, who came to Utah three decades ago for what he thought was a temporary job, liked it here and stayed (he's an avid skier). Twenty years or so ago we were talking about unique aspects of Mormon culture and he said, "I love living in Utah, it's the only place on earth where I get to be a gentile." [Note: Under Mormon doctrine, he really isn't a gentile, but I still loved the comment].
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
TR - Ever heard Red Skelton's Pope joke?
A Cardinal walks up to the Pope and says, "Your Holiness I have some good news and some bad news!"
The Pope says, "Give the good news!"
"Jesus has returned to earth and he's on the telephone for you!"
"What's the bad news?" asks the Pope.
"He's calling collect from Salt Lake City!"
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
EJHill
Here's the problem with the whole Rush/ESPN imbroglio: ...
Agreed.
Another problem was that every media outlet that downed Rush as a racist cut off the last sentence of his comment wherein he said the media rooting for a league dominant black QB was a good thing.
That last part would belie any argument that he was being racist, which is exactly why they all ended the clip before that part. Had they played that part, there would never have been a controversy.
Dec '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
If anything, I'd find using "callin' a spade a spade" when talking about black athletes an even more obscure insult than using "chink in the armor" when talking about Asian athletes. Is "spade" a derogatory term for black person?
Comes from the expression "black as the Ace of Spades."
You must be rather young. Here is the relevant number from the American tribal love-rock musical "Hair" - Broadway 1968, film adaptation 1979. It's NSFW nor CoC compliant, but it represents a very determined effort to neuter racial slurs by embracing them.
Jun '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
tabula rasa: All of this raises a question. Most groups at one time had a less than nice name assigned to them: e.g., wop, mick, yid, jap, gook, spic, etc. etc.
I'm also out in flownover territory. Do these epithets still live on out on the East coast (or elsewhere in the country)?
Off the top of my head I can't recall encountering any of those terms outside of old novels or movies. To me they all have an old-timey feel, like something you'd hear a character say in a film noir.
When I first read that ESPN had fired a writer for a racist headline, and then saw a screen shot of the headline, my initial reaction was puzzlement. I initially only registered the "hole in the armor" meaning of the phrase, and took me a few seconds to find the "racist" interpretation even though I was looking for it. It definitely seems like something I could have said, or even written, without the offensive meaning even occurring to me until someone pointed it out.
I dunno, maybe I've lived a sheltered life.
May '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Try Boston.
Feb '12
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
I can look out my office window and see Chink's Peak, which has been officially renamed "Mount Draghila," after Stacy Draghila, winner of the first women's gold medal in the pole vault. She competed for and coached at Idaho State University, which is kind of at the base of the mountain. Anyway, nobody calls it that; everybody still knows it as "Chink's Peak," after a miner known as Chink who worked a silver claim on the side of the mountain, at about the same time that Edgar R. Burroughs was running a stationery shop downtown. Chink was Chinese. He was so well though of that they named the mountain after him rather than any of the other miners working the area. My question is, is a slang term for an ethnic group or citizen of a country necessarily perjorative? Yank? Limey? Frog? Jerry? Belgian?
FWIW, my understanding of the etymology of the slang term "chink" is simply that the "k" provides a short, sharp end to the word. "Chinese" is too long for a slang term; "chin" has too soft an ending. Americans like their slang terms to end in full stops: Wop, Jap, Mick, Brit etc.
Mar '11
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Joseph Stanko
tabula rasa: All of this raises a question. Most groups at one time had a less than nice name assigned to them: e.g., wop, mick, yid, jap, gook, spic, etc. etc.
I'm also out in flownover territory. Do these epithets still live on out on the East coast (or elsewhere in the country)?
Off the top of my head I can't recall encountering any of those terms outside of old novels or movies. To me they all have an old-timey feel, like something you'd hear a character say in a film noir.
I agree. In High School we all used to nickname each other with these epithets (in good humor) thinking that it was some hilarious old-timey no-longer-insulting insult. I'm sure we pulled them from assigned reading in our Lit classes. Then in college I was shocked to find that most everybody took great offense at these things.
Perhaps I took the "I'm rubber, you're glue..." poem more seriously than I should have.
Jun '10
Re: Armor Chinks, Niggardly Sums and Retarded Growth…Political Correctness Controls The Dictionary
Casey
I agree. In High School we all used to nickname each other with these epithets (in good humor) thinking that it was some hilarious old-timey no-longer-insulting insult. I'm sure we pulled them from assigned reading in our Lit classes. Then in college I was shocked to find that most everybody took great offense at these things.
I also recall being puzzled sometimes trying to figure out which race or nationality certain terms referred to. In a few cases I'm still not entirely sure.
The PC police have been so effective in banning these terms that perhaps schools will have to start teaching them so younger generations will know what not to say or write if they want to remain employed...