[Ads-l] profiling

Chris Waigl chris at LASCRIBE.NET
Tue Apr 11 20:00:06 UTC 2017


I can, of course, not say whether the passenger who was abused employs the
verb profile as a synonym of be discriminate against, but to me they are
different. "Profiled", to me, implies being targeted for being of Asian
descent because of a (possibly unconscious) prejudice or supposed
characteristic relating to Asian people (to wit, meekness).

(On a side note, months ago, a Korean-American friend of mine
unscientifically polled her contacts about being asked to move aircraft
seats to the benefit of other passengers -- something that has never
happened to me and keeps happening to her apparently about every second
flight. The anecdotal evidence, which of course may have to do also with
the itineraries she flies on, indicates that this happens much more often
to her than to any of her (mostly white) friends.)

As for the Obama quote, it looks like an intentional (fake)
misunderstanding on Trump's part. What Obama said amounts to "there are
Muslims among our sports heroes", not that being Muslim somehow gives an
athlete an edge for becoming a sports hero.

Chris

On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 4:39 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The passenger violently removed from an overfull United Airlines flight
> protested that he was "profiled" for being Chinese.
>
> In other words, discriminated against. No wrongdoing (or expected
> wrongdoing) on his part was suggested.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 7:14 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
> > I think he's using it in the sense of categorizing someone based on
> > ethnicity or religion. In this case, though, the profiling is positive
> > (sports hero) as opposed to the usual negative (terrorist), which may be
> > what's confusing. Also "liberals" consider profiling to be bad, so Obama
> > is, in Trump's view, being hypocritical. It makes a kind of sense, sort
> of.
> >
> > Of course, the logic doesn't stand up to scrutiny, but it's less otiose
> > than most of Trump's blathering.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> > Of Jonathan Lighter
> > Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2016 6:31 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] profiling
> >
> > Donald Trump has tweeted his condolences over the death of Muhammad Ali.
> >
> > Last December, however, after President Obama asserted that Muslims were
> > among "our sports heroes," Mr. Trump tweeted, "What sport is he talking
> > about, and who? Is Obama profiling?"
> >
> > Q:  What is the meaning of "profiling" as used by a leading candidate for
> > the Presidency of the United States?  Or is the question odiously otiose?
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 10:56 AM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
> > wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> > > Subject:      Re: profiling
> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ---------
> > >
> > > It strikes me as nothing more than the same kind of middle-voice
> > > alternation you get with "embarrass," "frighten," "print" (your
> > > receipt is printing), etc.
> > >
> > > Neal
> > >
> > > On 3/14/2013 9:05 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> > >> Subject:      Re: profiling
> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> ----------
> > >>
> > >> The use of  "profile" below seems to be under the influence of French
> > "se profiler" or German "sich profilieren" (or both). Maybe other
> European
> > languages have this usage too.
> > >>
> > >> Gerald Cohen
> > >>
> > >> ________________________________________
> > >> Jonathan Lighter wrote, March 14, 2013 4:50 PM:
> > >>
> > >> Inglish marches on.  CNN, Feb. 28
> > >> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1302/28/es.05.html  :
> > >>
> > >> "But one thing that they would be almost unanimously saying is that
> > >> the next pope has to profile as a reformer on the sex abuse scandals."
> > >>
> > >> He has to "match the psychological or behavioral profile (of); fit
> > >> the description (of); be describable; look like."
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>



-- 
Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net . http://chryss.eu

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