Homonymphobia

Our reader Michael Hershey has identified this as the cause of the USC Business School "neige" debacle. But I think it might be better labeled an argument ad homonym.

Comments

[Dr. Ed 2]

Imagine a future culture looking at us -- in less than 100 years they went from kerosene lamps and dirt roads to walking on the moon, building superhighways and super computers, and making scientific advantages too numerous to mention.

And then they all went insane....

[perlchpr]

"And then in another hundred years it was mud huts and tallow candles."

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

What did socialists use for lighting before candles?

Electricity.

[Sam Gompers]

More proof just how little respect academics deserve. Right down there with judges like Sullivan, the DC Corcuit, and Gorsuch and Robert's, institutions like the FBI, DOJ, and millionaire athletes.

[StellaLink]

And far-right crackpot conspiracy theorists. Also, Russian trolls and their usefull idiots.

[VinniUSMC]

Not to be confused with lefty trolls, who are are useless idiots.

[Eddy]

You're all a bunch of homo sapiens.

[Krychek_2]

Who are you calling a homo? And is this the beginning of Global Primate Change?

[MK Ultra]

I can't figure out which is worse - "homo" or "Primate." Does someone have this hour's update to the Privilege Pyramid?

[Soronel Haetir]

How about hominidphobia?

[perlchpr]

Homonymphomania.

[Commenter334]

The point that you keep missing here, Professor Volokh, is that racism and prejudice are rarely overt. Rather, the racist is most likely to act under false pretense, under some justifiable pretext. That's right out of the how to marginalize minorities handbook.

Now was the USC professor using that word as pretext to marginalize his black students, or was he just naively and innocently clueless to their sensitivities? I don't know.

But let's not go so far as to say that pretext doesn't exist, and that people aren't right to wonder about the professor.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Now was the USC professor using that word as pretext to marginalize his black students, or was he just naively and innocently clueless to their sensitivities?"

Or were the black students saying that they were offended in order to marginalize the Chinese? If people are right to wonder about the professor, are they right to wonder about the complaining students as well?

[Sam Gompers]

Heavens No! Believe all Accusers, remember?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Even those who accuse accusers.

[Krayt]

Or saying they were offended merely as part of the sad exercise of using offense as rationale to engage government censorship, due to the absolute nature of the first amendment and Congress' willingness to pull money from schools that don't censor?

This is the stupid modern world built by politicians. You have to fight fire with fire and play offense games.

Where's the popcorn?

[Perseus`]

So now it's a microaggression (worthy of being removed as instructor) to use a homonym on the off chance that someone might be intentionally using it as an underhanded way to "marginalize" others.

Time to stop allowing the inmates to run the asylum and bring back the sensible adults

[mydisplayname]

At what point did it become fashionable to give a damn about the sensitivities of others? To marginalize folks and to disregard, naively and innocently or otherwise, the sensitivities of others is not necessarily discrimination: on what basis do we now prohibit marginalization and insensitivity?

What if I deliberately DO want to marginalize a person or group of people without engaging in prohibited discrimination? Am I not free to do so?

[Life of Brian]

Now was the USC professor using that word as pretext to marginalize his black students, or was he just naively and innocently clueless to their sensitivities? I don’t know.

You've presented a false choice. Option C -- hang with me here -- is that the USC professor was using an eons-old Chinese gap-filling word in the course of teaching his students about gap-filling words in various cultures in the course of a business communications class full of students from various cultures who will in the future be interacting with people from various cultures.

And thus, in the most flattering interpretation, the ones who started the crusade to eradicate this exceptionally factual multicultural instructional exercise from the hallowed halls of the university, rather than using it as an opportunity to expand their view of the world around them, are the "naive and clueless" ones.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

I knew Trump was involved somehow.

[Brandybuck]

Those neiges are taking our jerbs! Orange man save us!

[MatthewSlyfield]

If you say his true name backwards three times he shall appear and grant your wish for the low price of your eternal soul.

[Bored Lawyer]

Now was the USC professor using that word as pretext to marginalize his black students, or was he just naively and innocently clueless to their sensitivities? I don’t know.

Let's see, he was speaking Mandarin at the time, and the word in question is very common in that language, meaning literally "that" in English, and is a common filler word in Mandarin speech (like "umm" or "you know" in English.)

So I have no doubts on the subject.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And then they all went insane...

[Hank Ferrous]

It's pretty clear, if one has been following, that Prof V has done nothing of the sort. The claim that racists act under false pretenses is based on fanciful nonsense and in-group 'knowledge,' much like the faux-reasonable tone & question as to the intent for use of the Mandarin. Taking offense before knowing all the facts is immature, irrational, and counterproductive. The students who claimed injury are their generation's Ugly Americans in their insistence that other cultures conform to their needs. They are, in fact, racist, as they were only capable of viewing a non-English word through the lens of their specific ethnic identity.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"That’s right out of the how to marginalize minorities handbook."

How do you know about the handbook?

[Eddy]

Sorry, that was me. I accidentally left the handbook in the subway and Commenter334 must have picked it up.

[Ridgeway]

MASH memories:

"Frank's not a pervert."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm one, and he's never at the meetings."

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

"The point that you keep missing here, Professor Volokh, is that racism and prejudice are rarely overt."

That is a relatively new attribute of American culture, and among the great achievements of recent American progress.

A half-century ago, the bigotry -- racism, gay-bashing, misogyny, anti-Semitism, etc. -- was open, common, often casual, sometimes violent, rarely held to account. The bigots wanted everyone to know how they thought and acted, and to know that their way would be the way.

Today's bigots are defensive, hiding behind euphemisms ("traditional values," "heartland," "family values," "conservative values") in public and expressing their genuine positions solely in what they perceive to be safe spaces (private homes, online message boards, Republican Committee meetings).

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Today’s bigots are defensive, hiding behind euphemisms..."

Don't forget homonyms.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Every time a conservative bigot jokes about bigotry, a young voter registers as a Democrat, forms a lifelong voting pattern, and replaces a cranky old clinger in our electorate.

Keep up the good work.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Keep up the good work."

Right back atcha.

[Bored Lawyer]

"When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

Hit it, Edie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEpRBI-VxLc

[Perseus`]

At a mere 2 sentences, I found the post to be niggardly in its explication.

[Gasman]

Droll. I'm sniggering.

[Bored Lawyer]

Well that's one slant on the issue.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Watch out, that's been trademarked.

[Ridgeway]

Don't get on the slippery slope.

[Doug Huffman]

Homonymphobia, Homonyms,weren't they characters in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, intelligent asses whose speach resembled horses neighing.

[perlchpr]

argument ad homonym

😀

[Hank Ferrous]

Oui, c'est trés drôle.

[Jerryskids]

The proper response to the argumentum ad homonym is the argumentum ad baculum.

[Kyle T]

nice punny response

[Ted S.]

Mais où sont les 那个 d'antan?

[Voize of Reazon]

Who suspected that François Villon was a secret Mandarin gap-filler?

[Bored Lawyer]

Every day, the USC cafeteria serves juice. Orange juice, apple juice, grape juice.
One day, a student exclaims: "I am sick and tired of all this juice! Juice, Juice, Juice, that's all I see, Juice! I just hate Juice!"

He was then suspended for anti-semitic speech.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Scary thing is that stranger things have happened.

[Dilan Esper]

Actually he was suspended for insulting USC's most famous alum....

[Bored Lawyer]

Or infamous alum.

[Ridgeway]

"Did you know that a Jew named Goldberg sank the Titanic?"

"You idiot! It was an iceberg."

"Iceberg, Goldberg: What's the difference?"

[SKofNJ]

Two Jews at a chinese restaurant say to the waiter: Tell us, do you have any Chinese Jews? Waiter answers: Solly no. We have orange jews, tomato jews. We no have chinese jews.

[Miss Greenparker]

Better to build a fence than take it?

Ray shall miss understanding?

Good thing Auntie Rae's cyst is benign.

Peepholes of color offer a kaleidoscope of culture, so lettuce be more sensitive.

[Miss Greenparker]

Good thing Auntie Rae's cysts are benign.

[Miss Greenparker]

Hank resorted to argument ad hominy when he insulted Aunt Jo's hoe cakes and fatback during a heated family dinner.

[librarian]

Let's go farther.

What if someone's first name was the n-word?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Are they black or yellow?

[librarian]

Depends on the viewer.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Here's a story about a less sympathetic professor objecting to having a student named Phuc Bui. I don't know what would happen if a student had a name that sounded like "nigger."

[Rat on a train]

Freshman Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen was looking forward to starting college and using her legal name after years of asking to be called by the nickname "May."
Phuc May?

[MatthewSlyfield]

"But I think it might be better labeled an argument ad homonym."

Bad Eugene. You shall be pun-ished by the Puncil of Punnsylvania.

[Árboles de la Barranca]

There was this Hispanic girl that had a dog named Negrito. They called her a racist and she said Fuck Off.

There was a TV show I remember called "Boston Blackie." Blackie was white, of course.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

The famous Dam Busters RAF squadron had a dog mascot named "Nigger". In the 1950s book, but never made it to the movie, I think.

[Noscitur a sociis]

I mean, I think that one is probably actually racist and not a benign coincidence.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"I mean, I think that one is probably actually racist..."

Yeah, but they guys they were bombing were racister.

[TwelveInchPianist]

It made it. But in real life, they replaced the dog's headstone and removed the name.

[TangoDelta]

Why not call it what it is, Sinophobia or at least xenophobia.

[librarian]

What it really is? Try Egoism.

[Ridgeway]

Assuming you are referring to the perpetually offended, you are dead on.

[Ridgeway]

Cooking is going to become a lot more difficult when vinegar gets canceled. Hopefully marketing will be able to come up with a new name, like "Justice Juice".

[anorlunda]

Tell me about it. My name is Dick. I've been living my whole life with that 4-letter word. Actually, the confusion over my name is most often humorous. I'm a sailor, and one person suggested calling me Salty Dick, but my wife vetoed that.

Nevertheless, every spell checker I've ever used won't let me type it without auto-correct. And in the 1980s when domain names were few and easy to get, I was denied a .com domain using my name. I could have made millions from that.

[Ridgeway]

Just say it is pronounced "Ah-SWEEP-ay"

[Andy M.]

Do you really believe that NONE of these black students ever listen to popular rap or hip hop music for the last twenty years? Because they use the N word in most performances.

[Intelligent Mr Toad]

Just be sure not to tell anyone what "mother-of-pearl" is......

(Nacre).

[SKofNJ]

Just yesterday, nacre was an answer (in the form of a question) on the tv show Jeopardy.

[Intelligent Mr Toad]

It was a re-run.

[Kyle T]

If I understand correctly, the professor was discussing communication differences in various cultures. Anyone that complained should receive a failing grade. If they were in a business meeting and a Chinese attendee used the Chinese word for "That", would the "woke" dipsh!t be so offended to call out the Chinese business person for speaking Chinese?

Sad these people wake up every day looking for a way to be offended.

[Eddy]

Oh, and let's boycott Canola oil, it's made from rapeseed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed

[SKofNJ]

Jujube fruits, anyone?