Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Kobe and the use of the English language

I find it a bit strange that there's so much commotion over Kobe Bryant's six-letter, homophobic reference, yet the sports world accepts, with hardly a blink, a whole assortment of nasty words, many of the four letter variety ... one in particular of the 12-letter (hyphenated) variety.
What Kobe Bryant said - and for which he was fined $100,000 large -was clearly offensive to the gay and lesbian community. But that's not the point. A lot of other words are offensive to moms and dads who either bring their six year old to a sporting event, or are watching on TV with their child when the athlete uses offensive language. The problem is, unlike the gay and lesbian community, moms and dads don't represent any particular PC interest.
Why can't the authorities in sports take a higher road? Write a list of words that athletes can't use. If they need help, we volunteer our services. One F-bomb, or other word from the banned list, will get you $10,000. A second will get you  $20,000. A third, $40,000. I know these guys make millions, but a 10th offense will cost you $5.12 million. I'm guessing anytime after five, they've got your attention.
We're not talking practice or non-public swearing. We're talking offensive words overheard in the field of public consumption. Tennis, golf, baseball, basketball, etc.
I suspect that if the athletes stop using these words, so will 10-year-olds.
Hopefully.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home