I’d buy this, but it doesn’t make sense the other way either. That would imply that somebody discovered a flaw in Lin’s game which allowed the Hornets to win, but he’s turned the ball over at least six times in every game he’s started.
Fire his ass. It’s always OK to be racist to Asians apparently in this country.
[how about I just read the thread]
Well, we all know the news is slanted anyway. Full of gobbledygook these days. Nothing but a bunch of yellow journalism.
Not if you work at ESPN, apparently.
Banana is also a racial slur. Try reporting on the fruit without it.
That’s a homophobic statement if I’ve ever seen one! 
Are you under the impression that this article was about a suit of armor?
It must have been, since it was about a chink.
Let’s say the California Angels, who just acquired Albert Pujols from the Cardinals, place him fourth in the batting order. Anyone going to be okay with a headline that says having him batting clean-up makes the lineup “Spic ‘n’ Span”?
Seriously?
If there was EVER a headline referring to a black player that contained, “Let’s call a spade a spade”, you’d see a much bigger backlash.
Maybe the mistake was honest. So what? Incompetence or malice. Either way, the guy gets fired. People get fired from jobs for much less sometimes. What if a reporter was writing a story about Lin’s sudden popularity and headlined it “YELLOW FEVER!”? Maybe the intent was not to be malicious, but egregious displays of incompetence are commonly followed by losing one’s job.
Why should this guy get more breaks than any of the rest of us for (at best) extreme incompetence?
It’s not a “travesty” if a normal guy going to a normal 9-5 job can reasonably be fired for it. Maybe YOU wouldn’t have fired him, but it’s not a harsh or unusual reaction to the situation for many, if not most, people.
This. Also, the news sub-editors I have known have been constantly trying to slip semi-offensive stuff by their superiors; one guy was overjoyed that the restaurant review he was editing referenced a chef named “Poon” and that he could therefore plausibly put that name in his headline.
So brave!
You know what? I have a ball. Perhaps you’d like to bounce it?
I am not familiar with that particular colloquialism. Can you describe its use?
I would not get fired for using a common phrase.
Meh. I’m pretty much a hardcore prescriptivist who would defend to the (metaphorical) death the right to use “niggardly,” “chink,” and other such terms in the correct context…and I think this was an egregious, immediately obvious racist pun.
For example, I’d defend a headline saying “City Council Niggardly With Bonuses,” but I would instantly see the problem with “Martin Luther King Paid Niggardly Speaking Fee.”
It could still, I suppose, be an accident/oversight, but I feel justified calling into question the competence of any senior editor who approved such a headline.
If you are bound and determined to be offended by this, nobody can stop you. But your hypothetical copyediting skills are not under discussion. We’re talking about the job that was done by the people at ESPN. They are paid to do this job. The fact that maybe you didn’t notice the offensive reading of the headline as a casual (if sharp-eyed) reader does not say much of anything.
No, it indicates that the person has a significant vulnerability or flaw. Like every basketball player, Lin has several. But the fact that no new weaknesses became apparent during this game makes it a dull headline, and double meaning in the headline makes it really idiotic.
This is much more annoying than helpful. You do not need to demonstrate your amazing skills. You’re not a professional copy editor, and your copy editing skills are not being impugned.
Copy editors need to pay attention to things like that.
No, it doesn’t prove your interpretation was correct. It indicates I was wrong when I said Federico didn’t deny making a pun, and I’ve acknowledged that. But it does not prove his intent in writing the thing, and it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a poor choice for a headline regardless.
I agree 100%, and I can’t see where there is room for endless argument here. Whether or not he was intentionally trying to be racist is besides the point. Even if we suppose it was accidental and only meant with the purest of intentions, so what? That just means he’s too incompetent to be entrusted with a job that apparently has loose editorial oversight. If I were his boss, I’d fire him too. That goes for any writer who somehow can’t see how easily “chink in the armor” could be misconstrued. Ignorance is not an excuse.
The barrage of jokes and one-liners out there making fun of Lin because of his race is not surprising to me, but nevertheless, I still find it disappointing that this form of humor is so popular in the sports fan community.
A headline of “asian-american in the armor” doesn’t make sense at all. So why would you insist on this interpretation? It’s not even ambiguous. That interpretation is just nonsensical. It’s a poor kind of double entendre if only one interpretation of the words actually makes sense.
I suggested they were making a pun on the two meanings of chink, not calling Lin a chink. The proposed pun, if it exists, refers to both the newly famous Asian-American player and the flaw in the team. That’s about all that is required. I don’t think being doggedly literal-minded will improve anybody’s chances of understanding what went in this situation.
Right. I agree that it’s unfair to jump on someone just for using a word that has one meaning that is relevant and innocent and another that is not. Bretos could be getting a raw deal. But when you’re writing and publishing articles, you have time to reflect on what you’re doing and you are supposed to be on the lookout for things like this.
It’s not really a colloquialism but an example of a very stupid headline. In the US, East Asians were (more often in the past than now) referred to as “yellow”, just as African-Americans are often called “Black”, people of northern European descent “white”, Native Americans “Red”, and Middle Easterners, Mexicans, subcontinent Indians, and South Americans “Brown” (note: “Brown” is less commonly used in some parts of the US).
So, if you were to refer to refer to Lin’s sudden popularity by using the phrase “Yellow Fever”, you’d obviously not be referring to the disease but trying to make a pun based on his race (Yellow) and the Feverish excitement of fans at his sudden rise.
While it’s not the most offensive headline, there’s no reason to play the race card in an article on his popularity, other than to point out that the “usual” expectation that you don’t often see people of East Asian descent playing well enough in the NBA to be popular.
Well, lucky you. But if I were to refer to a one-off bad job performance by a person of Chinese or Taiwanese descent as demonstrating a “chink in the armor”, I sure as hell would be disciplined for it, if not fired. It doesn’t matter if I meant it as an insult or not. I would be demonstrating extreme incompetence and stupidity and that alone would be enough to call my job performance into question.
Likewise, if I referred to any black people by using the phrase “calling a spade a spade”, I’d probably be fired.
Is that fair? Sure.
“Fairness” in employment status after being ludicrously stupid (and possibly malicious) is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe I wouldn’t like it, but it would be as “fair” as not being fired, despite other people calling for my head.