In this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=115619, Tranquilis posits that an Italian surname makes a person likely to be involved in organized crime.
I think this comment was made mindlessly and hastily, not maliciously, and I don’t want to come off as hypersensitive, so I’ll wait for a retraction before I get out the flamethrower.
Um, I think that the post in question is just saying that the person is connected, not that if you have an Italian surname you are involved. I don’t see any thing that suggests that he thinks every Italian is involved in organized crime.
“I don’t want to come off as hypersensitive,” he/she said, starting a Pit thread over the poorest excuse to get offended yet seen on the SDMB.
This OP is lame. So lame. Oh so so so lame.
Could I just point out that Tranquillis was talking about a specific person? Not just a person, but what sounds like a friend?
Eh, I’m already bored explaining why this OP is lame.
LAME!!!
Damn those WOPS are oversensitive!
You are coming off as hypersensitive. I’ve a Sicilian surname, and when I want to play with a few minds, I hint that my family is in the hauling business.
I certainly did not read that as an indictment of all Italians being members of La Cosa Nostra. YMMV, but I think you are clutching at straws.
Hypersensitive, IMO. My Italian-descent husband makes jokes frequently about his dad’s line of work and possible “connections”. (He’s not connected. Really.) When I read Tranquilis’ post earlier this morning, I took it in that spirit.
May this thread sleep with the fishes.
My SO once flew from Las Vegas to New York next to a large, swarthy gentleman in an expensive suit. They chatted, for much of the flight. When she asked him what he did for a living, he replied in a deadpan Brooklyn accent, “I represent a consortium of independent businessmen in the greater Las Vegas area.”
She’s still wondering. I mean, she thinks he was yanking her chain . . .
I look vaguely Italian but I was born in Yorkshire, if that helps.
OK, I’ve been ably defended already, but let me put this to bed.
Angel is, in fact an individual, and she is, in fact, of 100% Italian extraction, and she does, in fact, have relatives whom are convicted members of organized crime. She is funny-coy about it, and I have, in fact, used her exact self description.
She is, in fact, a tough Italian (American) girl from a hard family.
Deal with it.
In no manner do I believe that all Italian-descended people are members of organized crime, any more that all Scottish-descended people are skinflints. Nor did I actually say or imply so. I merely speculated how SuperTech would handle dealling with a tough, hard girl who knew her shit.
Hyperelastic, I’m sorry that you’re offended, but I take no responsibility for your offence.
Deal with it.
Oh, BTW:
My very first Pitting, that I didn’t start myself! 
Hooray! Can I join the Clique[sup]tm[/sup] now?
what was that about Scottish people?
WHY I AUGHTA…
now i’m offended.
Heh! jar, my first name is Laird. Why d’ya think I picked on the Scots? 
I’m Irish, does that make me a Brooklyn cop?
no, it makes you a lousy drunk catholic
:: Jodi hands Tranq his fez and shows him the secret handshake ::
No. You haven’t been initiated yet. And you can’t be initiated at the moment since we’re out of eels.
Fenris
How dare you! Most of us Irish are expert drunk Catholics!
::throws back a Miller Lite::
youwannafightaboutit?
Damn!
I’ve got the Fez and the Handshake, but no Eels. Will lampreys do? How about raw clams?