Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?

[Mullins, Bill]

Also, for the purposes of discussing the hypothetical situation below,
Knievel is a public figure.  Therefore the standard for libel/slander is

much higher than that for a student.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Baker, John
> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 3:50 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
>         Bear in mind that these are different areas of the
> law.  The Knievel case was about the law of defamation
> (slander/libel).  The hypothetical case against your school
> district would be based instead on the student's right to be
> free of arbitrary and capricious governmental process or on
> the student's right to free speech.
>
>         The free speech claim isn't going to get far if the
> student was insulting another student at school, whether the
> student meant nerd or penis, so the student would have to
> proceed on the arbitrary governmental process theory.
> Assuming that your school district's rules are clearly set
> out somewhere (e.g., what you describe would not be sexual
> harassment in the legal sense even if everyone understood
> "dork" to mean a penis, but the school certainly could
> proscribe that), then the student would essentially have to
> show that the school district's policy, as applied, was so
> unreasonable as to be unsustainable.  For example, if a
> teacher overheard a student call another one a nerd and the
> student were suspended because the teacher erroneously
> understood a nerd to be a penis, then the student might have a claim.
>
>         This is not legal advice.
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf Of FRITZ JUENGLING
> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 4:21 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?
>
>
> This is an interesting verdict. In our school district, guilt
> is determined by the hearer's perception (maybe not even the
> one to whom a comment is directed), not the intent of
> speaker.  So, "You're a dork!" is sexual harassment if anyone
> in earshot understands 'dork' to mean the male member.
> Showing another definition, such as "fool, nerd, etc." in a
> dictionary is no defense. My question is whether a kid can
> take the school district to court after having been punished
> for sexual harrassment after saying "you're a dork', using
> the -I-meant-nerd-not-male-member-and-here-it,
> ie.nerd,-is-in- the-dictionary-defense.  Would our school
> district have to change its policy?
> Fritz
>