"Faggot" in Latin America
From an article in the Sun Times about how Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox manager, has been using 'inappropriate' language. The writer thinks he should be punished, as anyone else in baseball would be for using the words. Guillen, however has an angle, as well as an explanation.
Ozzie Guillen was wearing a White Sox uniform. He was talking to a bunch of reporters, maybe 20 of them taking notes or holding tape recorders. He was sitting in the White Sox' dugout.
And these are the words that came from the face of the White Sox before Tuesday's game, referring to a Chicago writer he was angry with: "What a piece of [deleted] he is, [deleted] fag.''
He was angry with Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, who was on his way to the NBA Finals. Guillen and the Sox have a feud with Mariotti. And in full disclosure, I obviously work at the same paper. But whatever you think of his columns or of him, that doesn't matter here.
I too detest Mariotti. He's the same as Ann Coulter and others who simply want to draw attention to themselves at any cost. It's about them, not about the issue their opinionating about. But anyway, it goes on:
After the game, I told Guillen what I was planning to say here, and I gave him a chance to explain. Here's what he said:
"I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country.''
It's all about courage
Guillen said that in Venezuela, that word is not a reference to a person's sexuality, but to his courage. He said he was saying that Mariotti is "not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing].''
This is something I can vouch for. When we say "hueco" we mean "chicken" or "lacking courage." It's an everyday idiom for a lot of people, especially around baseball. But, as the writer points out, Guillen is no dummy. He knows that doesn't fly in this country. Amazingly enough, the media hasn't jumped on him for his comments. Are they afraid of being politically incorrect.
Guillen certainly isn't. He added this at the end of the interview:
He also said that he has gay friends, goes to WNBA games, went to the Madonna concert and plans to attend the Gay Games in Chicago.
He goes to WNBA games? That means he's got nothing against gay people? Isn't that a shot at the WNBA? That's like saying you have a black maid as an argument that you aren't racist.
Ozzie Guillen was wearing a White Sox uniform. He was talking to a bunch of reporters, maybe 20 of them taking notes or holding tape recorders. He was sitting in the White Sox' dugout.
And these are the words that came from the face of the White Sox before Tuesday's game, referring to a Chicago writer he was angry with: "What a piece of [deleted] he is, [deleted] fag.''
He was angry with Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, who was on his way to the NBA Finals. Guillen and the Sox have a feud with Mariotti. And in full disclosure, I obviously work at the same paper. But whatever you think of his columns or of him, that doesn't matter here.
I too detest Mariotti. He's the same as Ann Coulter and others who simply want to draw attention to themselves at any cost. It's about them, not about the issue their opinionating about. But anyway, it goes on:
After the game, I told Guillen what I was planning to say here, and I gave him a chance to explain. Here's what he said:
"I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country.''
It's all about courage
Guillen said that in Venezuela, that word is not a reference to a person's sexuality, but to his courage. He said he was saying that Mariotti is "not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing].''
This is something I can vouch for. When we say "hueco" we mean "chicken" or "lacking courage." It's an everyday idiom for a lot of people, especially around baseball. But, as the writer points out, Guillen is no dummy. He knows that doesn't fly in this country. Amazingly enough, the media hasn't jumped on him for his comments. Are they afraid of being politically incorrect.
Guillen certainly isn't. He added this at the end of the interview:
He also said that he has gay friends, goes to WNBA games, went to the Madonna concert and plans to attend the Gay Games in Chicago.
He goes to WNBA games? That means he's got nothing against gay people? Isn't that a shot at the WNBA? That's like saying you have a black maid as an argument that you aren't racist.
posted by Carlos P at 4:35 PM
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