more on "Monday"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/24/2012 12:03 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Maybe I've  missed something.
>
>Since it has to be explained to be understood (as "because nobody likes
>Mondays") can't there be one set of speakers to whom it's a racial insult
>and others to whom it's just a nonracial put-down?

Yes, I think so.  But this was an exchange between two specific
speakers.  Clearly for Crawford it was a racial insult (or at lest he
claimed so), and for the police officer that's still to be determined.

Joel


>JL,
>
>On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 11:41 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: more on "Monday"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > For cops, there is no "own time". They are either on-duty or off-duty,
> > but they always represent the police force. This is the reason why he is
> > singled out relative to the regular hecklers who likely would have been
> > ignored (or, if identified, just banned from the ballpark).
> >
> >      VS-)
> >
> > On 7/24/2012 11:16 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > > At 7/24/2012 08:50 AM, Amy West wrote:
> > >> My point is probably moot: I believe in the coverage the off-duty
> > >> admitted using it as a general insult, but not a specifically racial
> > >> one, so the intent was there to insult but not on a "hate speech" basis.
> > >> And note that the ball player *knew* the racial insult sense, which the
> > >> cop says he didn't. So I guess the philosophical question comes down to
> > >> Is the off-duty cop being a jerk or a bigoted jerk on his own time?
> > > Or perhaps a bigoted jerk who is smart enough to know (or to have a
> > > lawyer who knows) that the legal punishment and moral disapprobation
> > > for a hate crime are more severe than for a general insult* (whether
> > > he is found guilty by a state court or by his town's civil service
> > > authority).  That would be true in Massachusetts, but I don't know
> > > about New Hampshire, where the "crime" occurred.
> > >
> > > * Even if "general insult" is not a misdemeanor, it would be
> > > disapprobated less than a hate insult.
> > >
> > > And was it on his own time?  Was he on paid detail as the ballpark,
> > > or just visiting?  Aren't police officers bound by conduct rules at
> > > all times, even when off-duty, as the military are?
> > >
> > > Joel
> >
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>
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>
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