Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
How are "simple cowboy" and "old cowgirl" really so different, especially if O'Connor uses the latter term for herself? (Serious question.)
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Who are you calling "old" ???
I think the difference is that for an old white man, at least, you can't diminish his accomplishments by calling him something that he clearly is not. He's not coming from a relative disadvantage related to his race or gender. That is to say that diminutive comments would not seem to diminish the accomplishments of an individual who belongs to the group that has always been in power as much as they might someone who doesn't. The same rationale would apply if they said used a similarly diminutive term about a black or hispanic person of high accomplishment.
I also think it's not entirely relevant that someone says something about herself; if I goof up at work and call myself an idiot, that doesn't mean that if someone else calls me that, it's okay. Maybe that's not a good example because idiot is clearly an insult. Or if I refer to myself as something complimentary (like, say, sexpot), it doesn't mean that my Managing Partner should say "that's not a bad business plan coming from a sexpot."
I'm not up in arms about this. I don't think that Frist and Bush think that O'Connor doesn't throw badly, for a girl. I think what renders their comments "ill advised" rather than "offensive" is that they did borrow her own language.
