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Southwest Not Held Liable For Alleged Racist Rhyme

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It probably was some lawyer working on contingency, desperately hoping that the company would offer a settlement before going to trial, who cooked this thing up.

To me, the key concept in this situation was that something was said that reminded someone else of something they found offensive. Imagine - a lawyer believed that was worthy of filing a suit. Although it's great that the case was dismissed, it's sad that it ever got that far. The very idea that I might be responsible for what someone else remembers, if they find that particular memory offensive - unbelievable.
 
Good news IMO. This was maybe the most stunningly stupid lawsuit I have heard of in the last few years. As I recall, the plaintiffs' complaint alleged something to the effect that they were "choked by the atmosphere of racism on the plane."

Interestingly, my recollection is that the plaintiffs themselves had never heard the racist version of the rhyme at the time of the incident, but were told about it later, when they complained to a third party about being rushed to find a seat on the plane.

For what it's worth, I HATE HATE HATE Southwest Airlines - it is the Greyhound of the skies - but this was a complete waste of the court's time.
 
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
 
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...

When/where I grew up, there was no racial bias in the area.

 
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...

No, it didn't. That version came along in the last 200 years or so, the original was much older.
 
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...
I can't believe they filed a lawsuit because of that. How LAME. People will sue for anything nowadays, it seems. They might as well sue all those little kids that use that in the playground for heaven's sake. :|
 
Originally posted by: anxi80
i understand the persons anger, but still, she didnt use it in the improper sense, and because someone in the past put a terrible spin on what was once a innocent nursery rhyme, she gets sued? even though she was misinformed that there were other variants of it? does anyone else think this may just be another frivolous lawsuit?
Click to expand...
You understand the persons anger? People like you are the problem. If you are offended by ANYTHING said by someone in complete innocence, THE PROBLEM IS WITH YOU!

My god, there is stupidity and ignorance everywhere. If you get offended by little crap like eenie meenie fvcking moe then what are you going to do when someone tells you to sit at the back of the bus? wet yourself?

NOTE TO WORLD: Thicken your skin!

 
Originally posted by: Mwilding
You understand the persons anger? People like you are the problem. If you are offended by ANYTHING said by someone in complete innocence, THE PROBLEM IS WITH YOU!

My god, there is stupidity and ignorance everywhere. If you get offended by little crap like eenie meenie fvcking moe then what are you going to do when someone tells you to sit at the back of the bus? wet yourself?

NOTE TO WORLD: Thicken your skin!
Click to expand...
yeah, i understand that people interpret things the wrong way and quickly jump to conclusions. but they acted too brash, and went about the whole situation the wrong way. if they wouldve taken the time to take their concern up with the flight attendant and discussed it with her, they wouldve realized her intent was not to insult them. heh, have you read the rest of my posts? i agree with everyone else in this thread. easy there...
 
reminds me of the chick on The Apprentice and the two girls were arguing over something and one of them basically calls the other one a bitch and

she responds with something like, "Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black." and the other girl go so offended saying why do you have to bring

race into this insinuating that the other girl was a racist. WTF was her problem. I really hope she gets voted off because she is a total bitch.
 
^ are you serious?!?!? (havent seen the show yet, but if people are getting offended over a commonly-used phrase like that and twist it into a racial-deal... then i weep for the future)
 
Originally posted by: Ranger X
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...
I can't believe they filed a lawsuit because of that. How LAME. People will sue for anything nowadays, it seems. They might as well sue all those little kids that use that in the playground for heaven's sake. :|
Click to expand...

That's the way I remember it. Every kid in elementary school knew the rhyme and used it whenever he/she had to decide between two things...

(Alternating between two things with each beat)
Eenie, meenie, minie, moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers let him go
Eenie, meenie, minie, moe.

Whichever thing the last beat fell on was the winner.

It wasn't until many years later that I heard the n-word version, but even to this day, whenever I hear the opening line, the first thing I think of is the clean version, not the other.

Being a minority myself, I understand how people are offended by obvious, direct acts of racism, but I can't stand the people that assume everyone of a different ethnic background is a racist and go through life actively looking for what they perceive to be a racist comment, especially when they're too ignorant to even realize that it's a playful nursery school rhyme...just ridiculous.
 
Originally posted by: Shooters
That's the way I remember it. Every kid in elementary school knew the rhyme and used it whenever he/she had to decide between two things...

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers let him go
Eenie, meenie, minie, moe.

It wasn't until many years later that I heard the n-word version, and even to this day, whenever I hear the opening line, the first thing I think of is the clean version, not the other.

Being a minority myself, I understand how people are offended by obvious, direct acts of racism, but I can't stand the people that assume everyone of a different ethnic background is a racist and actively look for what they perceive to be a racist comment, especially when they're too ignorant to even realize that it's a playful nursery school rhyme...just ridiculous.
Click to expand...
perfectly said! thank you! :beer:
 
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...

Wow, never heard that. But there's no reason to think that the stewardesses were referencing that version rather than the ORIGINAL version.

Say the KKK came up with a parody of MLK Jr's speech that went something like "I have a dream that all n-words would burn in the fires of hell" blah blah blah, would that make it racist to cite the original speech? No...
 
Originally posted by: ShotgunSteve
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...

No, it didn't. That version came along in the last 200 years or so, the original was much older.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, and my Googling gives only equivocal answers. I got my info from the news at the time the story was originally reported, and it sounds like nobody is precisely sure of the etymology of the rhyme. In any case, the "n-word" version was apparently the prevalent version in the U.S. in the 19th century.

 
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: ShotgunSteve
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
"Eenie, meenie, minie moe; catch a tiger by a toe"

Was the way I remember it.
Click to expand...

Apparently that was a later, sanitized version - the original said, "Catch a (n-word) by the toe."
Click to expand...

No, it didn't. That version came along in the last 200 years or so, the original was much older.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, and my Googling gives only equivocal answers. I got my info from the news at the time the story was originally reported, and it sounds like nobody is precisely sure of the etymology of the rhyme. In any case, the "n-word" version was apparently the prevalent version in the U.S. in the 19th century.
Click to expand...

In the original thread someone dug up a paper by a professor who traced the origin to the Middle Ages. As for the rest... it isn't the 19th century any longer. 😛
 
I looked for the original thread, but couldn't find it. They were trying to say that the racist version of the rhyme was the "original," but someone in the thread proved that the rhyme actually originated in the Middle Ages, and was not racist in its intent.
Click to expand...
That was me. It wasn't the Middle Ages, but has origins in Middle English (circa 1600s). The nursery rhyme actually has undergone far more non-racist inflections than its 'notorious' bigoted version.

This was a classic 'niggardly' case of the 'offended' being so ignorant they believed it was offensive + the promise of reaping financial gain from it. Ignorance + greed is always a bad combo.
 
Absurd. I hope the hags get to pay court costs for such a b.s. lawsuit. I have never heard the perverted version of that ryhme or knew it existed and I would have been just as villified had I uttered it on the flight although I was completely innocent so I feel for and believe the flight attendant.

The only version I know of is the tiger part which I have seen other posters discuss.
 
Plaintiffs Louise Sawyer and Grace Fuller of Johnson County, Kan., say they suffered physical and emotional distress. Their lawyer told the eight-member jury the two were discriminated against -- even though the "n-word" sometime associated with the rhyme was not used.
Click to expand...
Wow, they're full of s***!

BTW, I never heard the n-word version of the rhyme until this case came up. I always used the "tiger" version.

 
Yet another reason why they need to introduce a countersuit for being sued by morons for an idiotic reason.

In extreme cases, capital punishment needs to come in to play.
 
I'm glad they lost. This was perhaps the most frivilous and downright ridiculous lawsuit I had ever heard of.

I like SWA too, but only because of their lows fares and because they have the best safety and on-time records in the history of commercial aviation. No one has ever died on an SWA flight in some 36 years of operations. Compare that against other airlines... it's an amazing record. The closest they've come to a crash during their entire history is when a pilot rolled off the end of the runway at Burbank back in 2000.

And the way the nursery rhyme was taught to me when I was a kid was:
"Eenie, meenie, minie, moe,
Catch a tiger by toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
If he doesn't, make him pay,
$50 dollars every day.
Eenie, meenie, minie, moe."

It was usually used to pick out someone for teams or something like that so that part would be followed with the speaker pointing at one of the kids to be picked in turn to each word:
"My mother told me to pick the very best one,
And you are not it."
And the person who wasn't it (the one who was pointed at on "it") was dropped from the line-up and the rhyme would begin again.

I never even heard the racist version until I was an adult.
 
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