Friday, March 01, 2019

Stupid Man

I hope you can see how I've tried to join up my lingusitic thinking here, whilst keeping it all brief and tight. The first few paragraphs are four separate examples.

In the 1990s I saw Chelsea play Liverpool at the Bridge. The bloke behind me called every member of the Liverpool team a bastard whenever they had the ball. Saunders was a Welsh bastard. Molby a fat bastard. Fowler a Scouse bastard. You get the picture. When John Barnes got the ball TBBM stopped himself. He was going to say it. But there was a pause and he said f***ing instead. I was so impressed at this evidence of evolution in South London I wrote to When Saturday Comes.

In my early days in the Communications Group here in Bath and Wells we discussed a slogan being used. It was 'Thinking Different'. Some people went ape. It should say 'differently' they almost shouted. After several rounds of verbal dexterity I emerged from my silent pondering (which I do in meetings, it makes me poor at them but I find thinking doesn't happen when I am speaking) and asked what the missing words were. It took a while for people to realise I was asking a genuine question which they didn't understand so I repeated it slowly.

What are the missing words? 'Thinking' can be a noun and a verb. So if the missing words are 'Are you...' then indeed we should make different into an adverb and add ly.

Are you thinking differently?

Exactly, said the grammar police. Our point. Move on.

I did not move on but continued. I do that.

... if the missing words are 'Is your...' then all is well.

Is your thinking different?

Basically it gave another small group of people a reason to hate me for daring to talk about missing subject clauses without any qualifications save a 1971 English O Level grade 3. I dangled my modifier deliberately there.

When TCMT is being grateful to me she sometimes calls me a lovely man. Don't ask. I don't believe she is saying I am lovely because I am a man. I am a man and I have my moments.

We have occasionally sat in front of a programme such as Question Time and called a male of the species a 'stupid man'. We do not believe we are saying he is stupid because he is a man. We are saying he is a man and he is stupid. An exemplar of male stupidity which is neither ubiquitous nor missing.

I have thought long and hard before posting this and I do so as a question only. I am a sexist but not the worst example and I try to repent and change.

So, when Mr Corbyn called Mrs May (if he did) a 'stupid woman' was that so bad? Was it sexist? Maybe? Mayhem? Dismay?


1 comment:

Ray Barnes said...

He was right. She is a stupid woman. He should know.