Plumbing the depths of Joe the Plumber's "dictionary

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ineed it was candidate Wurzelbacher playing word games, not journalist
Sambolin.

JL

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:10 AM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ronald Butters <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Plumbing the depths of Joe the Plumber's "dictionary
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Sounds like word games to me. This is no different than if he had said,
> "It's fine to call them faggots, because that just means a stick of wood."
> "It's fine to call them niggers, cuz that just means black."
>
> > I can't judge Joe's response fully without seeing his original statement
> > about "queer."  If it was entirely innocuous, he could have said "Yeah, I
> > stand by my statement because all I meant was...."
> >
> > If the original had included Ron's explanation, I'd agree that Sambolin
> was
> > "playing word games." Otherwise no.
> >
> > What I heard Joe say on CNN yesterday boiled down to:
> >
> > "Homosexuals are Americans and should be allowed to work too. Just keep
> > 'em away from my kids because...you know.  And it's fine to call 'em
> > 'queers,' because that only means 'unusual.' It isn't a slur. Also, just
> > because I'm running for public office and consented to appear on your
> show
> > to boost my own candidacy doesn't mean you can ask anything you
> > damn-well please about public statements of mine.  What is this, another
> > left-wing-liberal media lynching?  You know, I think it is!"
> >
> > In a different interview, the new editor of the late Andrew Breitbart's
> > blog suggested strongly that Soledad O'Brien is a black racist.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 5:36 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:      Plumbing the depths of Joe the Plumber's "dictionary
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73772.html
> >>>
> >>> Things only got worse when Sambolin cited some of Wurzelbacher's
> >>> previous statements about homosexuality, including his claim that the
> >>> word "queer" is not a slur, as well as his declaration that he would
> >>> not allow homosexuals "anywhere near my children."
> >>>
> >>> "Have you changed your positions on this at all?" Sambolin asked.
> >>>
> >>> "So this is TMZ, this isn't CNN, is what you're saying," Wurzelbacher
> >>> shot back.
> >>>
> >>> "Of course it's CNN. These are things that you said, that I would like
> >>> to know if you still stand by them or if you have changed your
> >>> positions on them."
> >>>
> >>> "Listen, in my dictionary, and everyone's dictionary in the 1970s, the
> >>> word queer did mean strange and unusual. There was no slur to it. Do
> >>> you challenge that?" the congressional candidate said, before adding,
> >>> "Come on, you're trying to do a 'gotcha' moment, it's quite obvious."
> >>>
> >>
> >>    VS-)
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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