A rugby league official has got into hot water over calling a female journalist “a good sort”. I cannot work out why this was so offensive. I keep reading news stories about it - http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/zorba-im-in-the-sin-bin/.
As far as I can work out good sort can mean either
Hardly sounds offensive to me in either definition.
I’ve only heard it in the context of the first definition.
Never knew it could be applied specifically to a woman.
Well MergeSort has guaranteed O(n*log(n)) performance, but often, despite having worst-case O(n^2) performance, QuickSort is a better sort in practice.
I don’t think there is any journalist, male or female, who is a good sort compared to those two.
Maybe she has a bubbly personality.
God help me this is exactly the kind of thing I thought when I read the title.
I need to get out more.
The only thing I can think of is that it might sound condescending and patriarchal coming from an older man to a younger woman.
I love this place.
I’ve heard the phrase only very occasionally . . . is it a Britishism?
Regardless, I’ve never associated any gender with it. Sounds like someone’s got her [del]panties[/del] boxers in a twist.
That sort of interpretation is binary, for sure.
If his comments were out-of-order, does that make him a bad sort?
Now, the answer: Anyone can get offended at anything, and claim it was an example of anything else. Humans aren’t constrained to make sense.
Like most things, it’s all in the context. The link in the OP doesn’t offer much clue to what was being discussed and what may have been implied/inferred by the remark.
But otherwise, sounds like a fuss about nothing. “A good sort” is recognition of someone being an amiable person, nothing inappropriate about it.
Since this event occurred in Australia,I think we’re going to need Aussie input on what “a good sort” means Down There. What it means to us here in the US is mostly irrelevant.
Specifically the OP’s second definition makes me think “good sort” when applied by an Aussie to a woman should be read by USAians as “hot babe”. *If * that’s accurate, you can see how most any female sports journalist would object. They’re all trying to climb out of the “I was hired just so the network can get some tits on the screen; I’m utterly clueless about, you know, tee hee, sports.” stereotype.
Perhaps he used the other name for Quicksort: Hoaresort. And maybe she thought he was saying whoresort – she might think that offensive.
Spot on. When used in reference to a woman, ‘a good sort’ is purely referring to her appearance. So as you mention when a serious female sport journalist is called a good sort, he’s essentially calling any skills/abilities/experience as a journalist she has irrelevant because she looks nice.
Personally, I don’t see it as offensive per se, but is definitely misogynistic.
Also, in terms of the reaction to the comment, you have to take some context, in that Rugby League has struggled in the past with its appeal to females.
Traditionally it is a very blue colour sport, where the women involved were running the canteen and washing the jersey’s (that’s the stereotype anyway). And in the recent past there has been a string of incidents of players involved in less than savoury incidents involving women, including ‘hushed up/paid off’ gang rape allegations, group sex incidents (involving married players), and the like.
Such that over the last 4-5 years there has been a big focus on equality, and getting women involved and interested in the sport. Each year there is a ‘women in league’ round. Even from a grass-roots level its seen as important, as if mum doesn’t want her precious little boy playing this nasty sport, there goes the pool of players to develop into first graders.
Austrailian: “first grader” = “top grade”
American: “first grader” = “first year of elementary school, 7-8 years old”
…Or so I imagine for the Aussies. Just goes to show how easily things can be crossed up in our ‘common’ language.
It’s a very old-fashioned expression. I don’t think I have heard anyone use the term since about the '70s. Certainly I would be amazed to hear any of my contemporaries (I’m 48) call anyone a “good sort.”
If it’s offensive, I must be an Australian thing. Calling somebody a “good sort” in America isn’t very common but it’s about as inoffensive a term as you can imagine. A “good sort” basically is somebody that everyone likes and respects.
Doubtful. “First grader” isn’t a particularly common expression here either way, but I don’t think I’ve heard it used to mean “top grade”. (“Grade ones” is the more common way of referring to first year students, at least in Melbourne, but “first grader” would be understood).
As for “good sort”: as already said it’s not really offensive except in a dismissive, sexist 70s way. If I heard it today I’d assume irony.
I’ve lived in Australia for eight years now, and I’ve never heard the term used in any context. I’d think of it as an old-fashioned British term.
Still, if it’s capable of being understood as a patronising way of referring to a professional woman, then it was extremely ill-judged of whoever it was to use it. As GreedySmurf points out, Rugby League in Australia already has a serious image problem in this respect.
Not surprised you haven’t heard it before now. It does have a fair history in the Australian language, but as others have said, it’s pretty old fashioned now.
Which is the ridiculous thing in that it was the Manly Sea-Eagles media manager of all people that said. So the one person in your organisation that is supposed to be the best in dealing with the media and putting out a nice reputable facade to the press, is the one that trots out this patronising expression. :smack: