A Strange story. A Totally innocent comment to me - Must be one hell of a contextual statement! (I can’t find any context whatsoever.) I think the phrase would be about the same meaning in Australasia as in America, but he must have used it as a sort of situational euphemism.
In NZ News, sometimes they run a ‘good sorts’ segment where they do a human interest story about philanthropists, people who rescue cats from trees and other similar people - I think that shows how innocent the phrase is.
That’s exactly correct. Oddly though, the phrase good sort hasn’t been much in use since the 80s. Hottie is the current term.
On the other hand, she could be very selective. 
The problem here is of two separate and unrelated uses of the word “sort”, which seem to have been conflated in the minds of the offendees.
“A good sort” is a good old British expression meaning a thoroughly decent chap. It would be used by one man of another, not of a woman.
“Sort” is also a mildly derogatory term for a woman, especially when considered as a sexual object, e.g. “I was at the Roxy last night, it was full of decent sorts”.
Unfortunately, it seems that the second term has become more common as the first has become outdated, and now a perfectly complementary term seems to have become the new “niggardly”.
Sounds like Rugby League needs to work harder to root out sexually suggestive language.
The major point, perhaps under emphasised by Greedy Smurf, is the media jumps on and carries on about any thing can be construed as negative behaviour from league players and officials. So minor stuff like this gets lumped in with other less savoury incidents, if they can make a headline out of it.
Doing nothing risks even larger mountains being made out of former molehills.
I think an article on Wood Man reading the Manly Daily would prove a much more interesting article than a pinhead wearing her feminista jackboots. No doubt she made sure they matched her smoky eyeshadow.
me to.
sigh.
yet another example of how excellent the Dope is. I would never have known about this interpretation of the phrase except by reading about it here. Worse, I would have assumed my own (US) understanding-and been wrong. Ignorance fought. again. Thanks
I guess we’ve proved once again that we have no business calling English our common language. I can confidently say that your second usage of sort is completely absent from American English.
I don’t know if Only Fools and Horses (BBC comedy series from the 1980s and 1990s) is on American TV at all, but “sort” in the “totty” sense is used quite a bit by the main character, Del Boy.
As I said, though, it has nothing to do with “good sort”, and I find it very odd that people have taken offence at that expression. “A bit of a sort”, yes, I can see that might be offensive. Nuance is everything.
I wouldn’t consider a BBC comedy series to be an example of American usage.
I saw what you did there.