Am I too focused on word choice/do I expect too much from our leaders? Personal Anecdote: Squeeze and I were at the Ninth Avenue Food Festival. There was a Gypsy-themed (authentic) food truck called Auroras (from Connecticut) that I was standing in line for. I was looking forward to any one of the things I was about to choose from ordering in mere minutes. Just then, the FDNY (Fire Department) forced them to leave because of the way their propane tank was attached to the back of their truck. TO BE FUNNY, I lean over to Squeeze and say wow, Ill bet after getting DQed from the lot, Auroras feels GYPPED. No malice, no racism, but I DID know it was a racial reference. Im one of those equal opportunity offenders (My closest friends know that I am frequently self-deprecatory and make fun of myself with ethnic/intelligence/memory/etc jokes all the time so I can enjoy an unlimited comedy palate to paint from) and I grew up on talk radio, Morton Downey Jr, Howard Stern, Roddy Piper, etc. As such, I was well aware that in certain other serious, official contexts, saying gypped would be COMPLETELY inappropriate. It was very disappointing to hear about First Lady Obamas faux pas. All that education and not enough TV watching or trivia book reading or casual conversation with other well-read people to know something Ive learned a dozen times over? I always wince when our greatest have unflattering moments where they seem to be ignorant. And seeing as though Ive never considered the term BOSSY to be gender-specific and never used it as such, why are we banning it again --- while other words either may or not be taboo. Picking and choosing what you are a proponent of while creating a mess that is at least equally as big...is like sweeping the dust out of the kitchen and into the living room (one step forward, one step back).
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 00:55:46 +0000
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