British actor Benedict Cumberpatch had to utter a batch of mea culpas after saying Hollywood had a problem not casting enough “colored actors” in its movies:
Cumberpatch Apologizes for ‘Colored Actors’ Remark
If aliens from another planet deciphered our language they would wonder why it would make any difference where the adjectival modifier is placed: “people of color” or “colored people.” It’s a ridiculous semantic difference but the weight of connotation from historical usage hangs heavily over the latter but not the former. But, as someone from Britain, we cannot expect Cumberpatch to know every nuance and underlying connotative meaning behind a phrase that would seem innocuous to him. The incident says more about the people who are self-righteously lambasting Cumberpatch than it says anything about him (and the poor guy felt obliged to apologize profusely afterwards). Ironically the Americans calling him out for supposed insensitivity and racism actually revealed themselves to be culturally and globally ignorant. Do they really expect and believe that the connotative meaning of every English language phrase is the same around the world? They are the ethnocentric ones, not Cumberpatch. Their ignorance of language and its nuances is embarrassing (for them). These ignorants need to get a clue and buy a book like this:
English to English: The A to Z of British-American Translations
Cheers…
Originally posted: http://www.mccarthyism.com/2015/20150130.htm
mccarthyism.com 