Racial epithet makes news

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ironically, I can no longer tell what's truly ironic, what's meant to be
ironic, and what's merely posing as ironic.

But maybe it's just the thread.

JL

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 5:20 PM, Baker, John M. <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John M." <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Racial epithet makes news
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>    Bear in mind that the Chinese man wasn't just eating with sticks; he
> was eating with sticks while participating in a spectacular parade on a
> quiet street.  So, yes, it was intended to be weird.
> =20
> =20
> John Baker
> =20
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Joel S. Berson
> Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 4:45 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Racial epithet makes news
>
>
> At 7/7/2010 03:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>
>        Surely someone has criticized even the changed version. Doesn't
> it mean that
>        Chinese people only and always eat with "sticks"?  And by
> mentioning it ("To
>        *think* that I saw it on *Mulberry* Street!") isn't the
>        narrator telling children that it's weird?
>
>
> No.  Rather, that Lower Manhattan could be weird.  (And perhaps it was
> weird to see a Chinese man in a neighborhood of Italian immigrants.)
>
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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