It freaky makes me sick to my stomach when I hear a crime victim refer to the perpetrator as “the gentleman” blah, blah. The gentleman raped me, killed my father, beat up my daughter, stole the fundraiser money, etc. A f*cking "gentleman doesn’t do those things. Last night watching the reports on Elizabeth Smart I’ll be damned if some of those interviewed didn’t referred to theman in question as “the gentleman”. Stupid freaky idiots. Can’t they just say “the man”? The gentleman broke into a house, then the gentleman kidnapped a girl. Does that sound right to you?! Bet your ass Elizabeth’s parents don’t call him a gentleman.
I think the term is being used as a form of ironic formality. It’s a way to depersonalize him and keep him at a distance. It’s not a compliment, it’s an insult.
Just like when they called bin Laden the “mastermind” behind the bombings. Masterminds discover cures for diseases. They find ways to quickly get aid to remote sites affected by tragedy. They don’t plan the murder of thousands. Mastermind my ass.
And I agree, gentleman my ass.
Good point Diogenes. It is a form of ridicule, isn’t it?
No. I disagree w/ Diogenes the Cynic. I accept using a blank term such as mastermind, but not Gentleman. To call someone a gentleman cannot be construed as an insult. And I believe it is a term to personalize rather than depersonalize.
I think if you’ll check your history, you’ll find that gentlemen did an awful lot of that stuff. Some of it’s how you get to be a gentleman in the first place: one of your ancestors did it.
Here endeth the Terry Pratchett inspired social commentary.
Eh? Since when? Unlike gentleman, I don’t think there’s ever been a sort of code of conduct that goes along with the title mastermind.
I have a coworker who does this, but she refers to everyone as either a ‘gentleman’ or a ‘lady’ no matter what their behavior is actually like.
Every time she referred to one particular guy (who set his girlfriend on fire) as a gentleman, I wanted to grab her by the throat and scream 'Gentlemen do not set their girlfriends on fire!.
I agree with you Neurotic, there is no code of conduct that accompanies it and that’s why personally I have a problem with the description. When someone does something stupid or immoral but is called a mastermind simply because they came up with the bad idea or were involved in it’s planning, I just want to go “Huh?”
IMO, there’s plenty of other terms that would be more accurate.
Sorry… Neurotik.