Tom Szczerbowski/GETTY IMAGES Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar played a game with the Spanish words 'Tu Ere Maricon' written across his eyeblack.
Here’s what we know: That when Yunel Escobar decided to take the field wearing a disparaging term written in Spanish on his eye black, he did something stupid.
Here’s what we don’t know: Exactly how stupid.
We start with the linguistics of slang. What does ‘Tu ere maricon’ mean?
“It is derogatory, but it’s not necessarily homophobic,” said Maria Cristina Cuervo, a professor of Spanish at the University of Toronto.
Yes, it can mean ‘You are a faggot’. Usually so. But that’s not the end to it.
• Related: Blue Jays’ Yunel Escobar to address slur
The word is a derivation of the proper name Maria del Carmen – in times past, a child with that name would be referred to in the family with the diminutive, Maricon. It has morphed into an effeminizing epithet that has a clear gender component, but not necessarily a sexual one.
“I would take it as, ‘You are like a girl. You’re weak’,” Cuervo said. “I don’t curse much, so I don’t know the appropriate level in English. It has to be something like ‘wuss’.”
In Spanish speaking families, according to Cuervo, parents might refer to a seven-year-old boy who’s crying as a maricon, as in ‘Don’t be such a baby’. You might say the same thing in the same situation to a female child.
“If anything, it’s sexism against women,” Cuervo said wryly.
There are a great many confusing regionalisms involved. Cuervo is Argentinean, where the word is considered relatively light depending on the context. It can also be used in that same teasing way in Puerto Rico.
In the Dominican Republic, it is almost always meant to be vulgar and aggressive. What does it mean in Cuba, where Escobar was born?
“A slur referring to homosexuals,” said Prof. Michelle Gonzalez, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami. “I suppose people will use it in jest, but I don’t know if that makes it any less offensive.”
Gonzalez also made a very pertinent point: “People will say many things in private. People swear. But there is a difference when you display it.”
“Oh boy,” Prof. Rafael Lima, another Cuba expert said, when the phrase was repeated for him.
“If you were to yell that at someone in a Cuban context, that would be deeply offensive,” Lima said. In his view, the word can be lightened depending on how it’s used (this being the difference between taking umbrage and starting a fistfight) but always means the same thing — a homosexual man.
“Whether he meant it to be offensive or not, it’s in very bad taste.”
Given all that, the use of the word ‘faggot’ as a catch-all translation might still be jumping the gun, but the linguistic wiggle room for Escobar here is very tight.
He may fall back on common sense as an excuse. Anyone in the public eye with an even-half developed media survival instinct knows this is PR hari kiri. He may try to claim he meant it as a jape. It’s going to be difficult nearing impossible to claim that he didn’t know how it might be perceived otherwise.
Escobar speaks nearly no English. He better hope that whoever acts as his translator this afternoon at 3:30 is an orator of Clintonian stature. The onus is clearly on him to explain this away, and in convincing terms.
There’s also the question of why he did it. Was this the terms of a losing bet? Was the insult directed at someone specific? There is even the very slim possibility that, as part of some elaborate clubhouse prank, he didn’t realize what was written on the strips. Again, unlikely, but possible.
In order to explain the word, Escobar is going to have to explain the context in which it was used. Any hedging on that score is going to undermine his presumable ‘I was just kidding’ excuses.
Given what’s at stake, we’ve never had a non-sports-related sports controversy quite like it in the city. Homophobic scandals (presumptive) don’t generally come freighted with such grey area.
Having not yet gotten any explanation from the source, it’s too early for torches and pitchforks. Escobar’s odd decision still lands in a large range — anything from tone-deaf to hate speech.
Two things need to be explained: What did he mean? Why did he do it?
Then the thorny issue of the Jays response.
If Escobar is convincing that he meant this in monumentally ill-judged fun — an apology on general principles, the promise to toss his Sharpies, and a suspension.
But if what Escobar intended falls on the dark side of the spectrum, there is no way the Jays can keep faith with a cosmopolitan fan-base while keeping their shortstop too.
Here’s what we don’t know: Exactly how stupid.
We start with the linguistics of slang. What does ‘Tu ere maricon’ mean?
“It is derogatory, but it’s not necessarily homophobic,” said Maria Cristina Cuervo, a professor of Spanish at the University of Toronto.
Yes, it can mean ‘You are a faggot’. Usually so. But that’s not the end to it.
• Related: Blue Jays’ Yunel Escobar to address slur
The word is a derivation of the proper name Maria del Carmen – in times past, a child with that name would be referred to in the family with the diminutive, Maricon. It has morphed into an effeminizing epithet that has a clear gender component, but not necessarily a sexual one.
“I would take it as, ‘You are like a girl. You’re weak’,” Cuervo said. “I don’t curse much, so I don’t know the appropriate level in English. It has to be something like ‘wuss’.”
In Spanish speaking families, according to Cuervo, parents might refer to a seven-year-old boy who’s crying as a maricon, as in ‘Don’t be such a baby’. You might say the same thing in the same situation to a female child.
“If anything, it’s sexism against women,” Cuervo said wryly.
There are a great many confusing regionalisms involved. Cuervo is Argentinean, where the word is considered relatively light depending on the context. It can also be used in that same teasing way in Puerto Rico.
In the Dominican Republic, it is almost always meant to be vulgar and aggressive. What does it mean in Cuba, where Escobar was born?
“A slur referring to homosexuals,” said Prof. Michelle Gonzalez, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami. “I suppose people will use it in jest, but I don’t know if that makes it any less offensive.”
Gonzalez also made a very pertinent point: “People will say many things in private. People swear. But there is a difference when you display it.”
“Oh boy,” Prof. Rafael Lima, another Cuba expert said, when the phrase was repeated for him.
“If you were to yell that at someone in a Cuban context, that would be deeply offensive,” Lima said. In his view, the word can be lightened depending on how it’s used (this being the difference between taking umbrage and starting a fistfight) but always means the same thing — a homosexual man.
“Whether he meant it to be offensive or not, it’s in very bad taste.”
Given all that, the use of the word ‘faggot’ as a catch-all translation might still be jumping the gun, but the linguistic wiggle room for Escobar here is very tight.
He may fall back on common sense as an excuse. Anyone in the public eye with an even-half developed media survival instinct knows this is PR hari kiri. He may try to claim he meant it as a jape. It’s going to be difficult nearing impossible to claim that he didn’t know how it might be perceived otherwise.
Escobar speaks nearly no English. He better hope that whoever acts as his translator this afternoon at 3:30 is an orator of Clintonian stature. The onus is clearly on him to explain this away, and in convincing terms.
There’s also the question of why he did it. Was this the terms of a losing bet? Was the insult directed at someone specific? There is even the very slim possibility that, as part of some elaborate clubhouse prank, he didn’t realize what was written on the strips. Again, unlikely, but possible.
In order to explain the word, Escobar is going to have to explain the context in which it was used. Any hedging on that score is going to undermine his presumable ‘I was just kidding’ excuses.
Given what’s at stake, we’ve never had a non-sports-related sports controversy quite like it in the city. Homophobic scandals (presumptive) don’t generally come freighted with such grey area.
Having not yet gotten any explanation from the source, it’s too early for torches and pitchforks. Escobar’s odd decision still lands in a large range — anything from tone-deaf to hate speech.
Two things need to be explained: What did he mean? Why did he do it?
Then the thorny issue of the Jays response.
If Escobar is convincing that he meant this in monumentally ill-judged fun — an apology on general principles, the promise to toss his Sharpies, and a suspension.
But if what Escobar intended falls on the dark side of the spectrum, there is no way the Jays can keep faith with a cosmopolitan fan-base while keeping their shortstop too.
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