[Ads-l] sexist "crazy"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Mar 20 13:57:33 UTC 2016


Not sure this is relevant, but googling "crazy wife", "crazy ex-wife", and "crazy ex-girlfriend" brings up in each case more than twice as many hits than the corresponding "crazy husband", "crazy ex-husband", and "crazy ex-boyfriend".  The last comparison is thrown off by the existence of an eponymous and (surprisingly good) TV comedy, but the existence of a show (and arguably a meme) of that name and the non-existence of a show "Crazy Ex-Boyfriend" is presumably not an accident.

LH 

> On Mar 20, 2016, at 8:05 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Donald Trump has called Megyn Kelly "crazy."
> 
> Donald Trump has resumed his gratuitous obsessive-compulsive blasting of
> Megyn Kelly. And according to CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter:
> 
> "Lately he's been calling her 'crazy,' which some people would think is a
> sexist reference. There is a meaning of 'crazy' when applied to women that
> is different than when applied to men. We all kind of know that in society.
> When he says 'crazy Megyn Kelly,' it certainly has a specific connotation."
> 
> Q.: Huh? *I* don't know it, "kind of" or otherwise. Crazy means crazy.
> First we were assured that "moist" is one of the most offensive words in
> English.  Now this.
> 
> Elucidation, please.
> 
> JL
> 
> JL
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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