more on "Monday"

[Geoff Nathan]

A similar issue was raised a number of years ago when a locally-owned coffee franchise had to rename itself from 'Beaners' to 'Biggby's', because, folks said, 'Beaner' is a derogatory term for Hispanics. This turned out to have been news to everyone in the franchise (and to yours truly, also), but that didn't help. Since that time I have seen the word used online once in a derogatory sense, and have never heard anyone say it. It's that kind of thing that gives 'political correctness' a bad name. But I realize others may differ on this. Geoff Geoffrey S. Nathan Faculty Liaison, C&IT and Professor, Linguistics Program http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics) ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Amy West" <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 10:08:54 AM
> Subject: more on "Monday"
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject: more on "Monday"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ben,
> I'm glad you picked up on this news story, because it had me
> scratching
> my head when I read about it in the T&G: I have never heard the term
> in
> the wild, but I lead a pretty sheltered life. A T & G columnist had a
> column about it today -- dunno if it will be helpful: it starts off
> with
> a source/quote I haven't seen come by before.
> http://www.telegram.com/article/20120723/COLUMN44/107239890
> (There's a philosophical question here: if someone calls you a name
> and
> you *don't know* that it's derogatory, are you still insulted? Or the
> inverse: if you use a term ignorantly and *don't know* that it's
> insulting, are you guilty of "hate speech"?)
> ---Amy West
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org