On Friday, May 16, 1997 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, John Neary wrote:
Paul,
As I posted in a different thread, I've been told that Alagna's
comments were made in French and then translated into English.
In the original French his comments are boorish but not hateful
in the way they would be to an English or American ear. I have a
feeling this is the case; I work at a college, and we sometimes
hire visiting TAs from France and especially Spain. When these people--actually quite enlightened folks--use the rough slang of
their homelands, but literally translated into English, they
sound like horrible homophobes and misogynists. They have to be
quietly told that those words (which they use very lightly and meaninglessly) have ghastly connotations in English.
I suspect that this is what happened in the Alagna
interview--though if others have knowledge of deeper homophobia
or misogyny on his part, I'd be interested to hear it.
--John (72430...@compuserve.com)
Hitler! Hitler?
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