Linguistics 0
In the Chicago Tribune, Megan Crepeau decodes Congressman Allen West’s (R, My-Way-or-the-Highway) charge that Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is “not a lady” because she dared to disagree with one of his political stances.
After pointing out that the Congresswoman is neither a British peer nor a 19th Century robber baron’s trophy wife, she concludes with
But West takes it very seriously, and here’s why: When he said “lady,” he was speaking in code. To old-fashioned conservative men like West, “lady” just means “someone who agrees with me,” or at least “someone who disagrees with me quietly.” To be a “lady” is to be docile, calm and uncritical. West thinks that since his colleague is just a woman, not a lady, she doesn’t deserve to “be afforded due respect.”
