Rally Monkey & Indy Colts' Monkeys

[Dennis R. Preston]

My pragmatics are alarmed at the phrase "a sportcaster named Howard
Cossell." Isn't that a little like "a religious figure named Jesus
Christ" or "a fascist leader named Adolf Hitler"?

dInIs

>At 8:14 AM -0400 10/21/02, James A. Landau wrote:
>>In a message dated 10/21/02 3:46:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Bapopik at AOL.COM
>>writes:
>>
>>>  Those following the baseball World Series are familiar with the Anaheim
>>>   Angels' "Rally Monkey."  I didn't find that trademark, but the football
>>>   Indianapolis Colts have registered Touchdown Monkey, Field Goal
>>>Monkey, Two
>>>   Point Conversion Monkey, Extra Point Monkey, Safety Monkey, and
>>>   Sack Monkey:
>>
>>I remember about ten years ago when a sportscaster named Howard Cosell
>
>Actually, it was closer to 20 years ago, in reference to Alvin
>Garrett as a "tough little monkey."
>
>>got
>>himself into an Africa-size pot of hot water by using the term "monkey" to
>>refer to an African-American football player.
>>
>>Does this mean it is possible for a word to get OFF the politically incorrect
>>list?
>>
>I'm not sure it was the WORD that was politically incorrect, but its
>use to denote a human being.  In this case, the various monkeys are
>(representations of) monkeys, not running backs or outfielders.
>
>L

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
740 Wells Hall A
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office - (517) 353-0740
Fax - (517) 432-2736