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‘Silly Phrase’: Public officials should choose words carefully

It seems absurd that we continue to have to talk about elected and other public officials who are using words and phrases the general population understands — and has for many, many years now — are offensive and unacceptable. Yet here in West Virginia, where we are the intended targets for far too many slurs the rest of the country still thinks are OK, our governor and state school board vice president are guilty of another couple of head-shakers.

This time, the phrases in question are “not a Chinaman’s chance” (Gov. Jim Justice) and “I don’t have a Chinaman’s knowledge” (state school board Vice President Dave Perry), as reported by the Charleston Gazette-Mail. In both cases, it is not only common decency that says the phrases are insulting, the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries call them “dated” and “offensive.”

Justice, known for intentionally throwing faux folksy phrases into his speeches, shrugged off criticism of his comment, saying “I use a lot of silly phrases and stuff like that. If that offended somebody, then I’m sorry.” He seems unbothered that it is more than a “silly phrase” to plenty of people.

Perry, on the other hand, took the ignorance approach, claiming he was not aware of the origins of the phrase, other than having heard it said by many people “down through the years.” Perry is also guilty of using, in a public meeting in November, another phrase he probably heard used over the years. In trying to show he understood a point being made, he said “I didn’t ride the short bus.”

This is a man who sits on the board that oversees West Virginia’s public schools.

Neither man seems to have a firm grasp on why he should not have chosen the language he did. That should be disturbing enough.

But for goodness sake, even setting aside the hope that our public officials would be more aware than these two are pretending to be, it makes no sense to choose words and phrases that single out groups of people with whom West Virginia would very much like to be in a good working relationship; or that belittle people both of these men are supposed to be serving.

We are better than that, ladies and gentlemen; and our governor — and the folks he appoints to represent and serve us –must know we expect better of them.

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