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1828? Maybe you can see if John Quincy Adams has a blog entry about Richardson.
Turns out he was just calling that fan a bundle of twigs.
For fun. here's a survey of dictionaries:
Compact Oxford English Dictionary: cunning or deceitful
Cambridge Dictionary of American English: skillful in argument but likely to be dishonest
Encarta World English Dictionary: North American Edition: cunning; using or involving cunning or trickery to deceive other people
Webster's 1828 Dictionary: Cunning; artful; skillful in devising and pursuing a scheme, by deceiving others, or by taking advantage of their ignorance; wily; sly; fraudulent
etymology: "strong, powerful"-- later "skillful"-- degenerating by c.1205 to "cunning, sly"
1828? Maybe you can see if John Quincy Adams has a blog entry about Richardson.
Turns out he was just calling that fan a bundle of twigs.
i dont think they were really anti-semetic, he just said a bunch of sterotypes.
Even checked Webster's UNABRIDGED Dictionary for a complete entry:
1 dial chiefly Brit : SKILLFUL, CLEVER, INGENIOUS
2 obs : showing skill : skillfully made
3 : adept at deceiving others : CUNNING, WILY
Definition number one is British and number 2 is considered obsolete. The prefered current usage is the last one. A lot of people think that the first entry in every dictionary is the preferred one, but that is not the case. You have to know how each dictionary is arranged, and Webster's is not arranged that way.
You can insult me on a lot of things, but I know my reference books
The important thing you are completely ignoring is the speaker's intent.
Do you really think he would have subs uted the words underhanded, devious or deceitful for crafty?
Of course not.
He should have just kept his mouth shut instead of trying to say positive, if stereotypical, things about Jews. No doubt the Politically Correct Reference Librarian Militia for the Advancement of White Basketball Players can declare mission accomplished here.
The semantics of "crafty" apart, I really doubt, from the rest of his claptrap, that he's such a discriminating "craft"sman of laser-precision speech.
Running his mouth about "Jew" stereotypes, claiming planet-wide "Jew" hate, " got" insults, and flipping off the crowd got him an unscheduled vacation, and unpaid, if an CBA suspension means the same as NBA suspension.
Sounds to me like his team's success and the new contracts under discussed pumped up his head, and his mouth followed suit.
Okay ploto, I understand have you are defining crafty as negative, but what about this ...
To claim jews run all the business is anti-semitic??
It's a generalization, but anti-semitic?
Anti-semitic is something negative or hostile toward Jews. Saying they run businesses isn't negative or hostile.
.... but, people often speak in "code." I've seen it many times here in Mississippi.
"Innuendo" is the word that we should be looking up in the dictionary.
I don't really have a mission in this thread. I am not even standing up for the guy. I just don't think it's that bad of a thing to make a generalization - Jews are good at business, Blacks are good athletes, etc.
I know that when I worked in Beverly Hills, I said once "all businesses in Beverly Hills are owned by Jews". In reality, not ALL are, but it's a tremendous majority.
But believe me, I wasn't slighting the Jewish business owners - rather I was complimenting them.
I'm jewish and I'm not good at business.
Making generalizations on national media is something people should avoid, is not that hard... You're always going to end up hurting someone sensibilities.
And no, I dont think it was antisemitic, it looks just like a regular stupid comment to me.
tony kornheiser said he wasn't personally offended, and invited him over for passover seder. dude's other famous remark is "the ship be sinking."
I've always taken crafty to mean backstabbing, lying, deceitful, ect. Crafty is rarely used in literature in any other context. The term crafty to refer to being good at a craft is archaic. Especially when we are talking about lawyers, an occupation not known for it's honesty or integrity.
Either way that is semantics. So what is offensive and what is anti-semetic?
Note that anti-semeticism is hostility and prejudice to the Jewish people.
Prejudice is the act of pre-judging someone.
Prejudice is the direct offspring of social stereotypes.
Saying all Jews are crafty creates two possible stereotypes or prejudices.
1. All Jews are deceitful.
2. All Jews are skillful.
The first is anti-semetic, the second one isn't. (hostility present)
The first is prejudice and so is the second. (pre-judging)
The first is stereotypical and so is the second. (generalizing)
This is all about his context of the word.
Look who these words were coming from - an ex-NBA player and current basketball coach who more than likely grew up within the basketball and sports community and as such is heavily influenced by the verbage and lingo used within the sports community. It's a fact - the word crafty is used in a very positive light within the sports community. How many times have a good, older player been described as a crafty veteran or crafty defender? For example, Bruce Bowen is often described as a crafty player, and every single time it's a positive description. This is more than likely the angle he was coming from, and the legitimate intent in this case renders all dictionary and literary meanings irrelevant.
Now, shut the up ... that's another story.
Kori,Is "crafty" something bad to say? I guess the connotation of crafty could be "sleazy" but I don't use it like that.
If someone called me crafty, I'd take it as a complimentTo me, crafty means clever.
Cafty can suggest slyness an cleverness which by implication can mean being Deceitful. Though I think he meant it the way you said, judging by his evident lack of insight. But merely stating crafty in reference to a Jew is going to get anyone suspended becuse of it's immediate several, contrasting implications. Take into account the er running this league is a Jew, and I know that Jews can be peevish because I am one.
Is this really getting play on sports talk radio/TV?
Friggin Jew media. Figures.
People just didn't understand that Jimmy the Greek was complimenting black people when he said they were bred to be good athletes.
Let me go comb through the dictionary to prove it.
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