文世昌英语：华人之光引起的辱华风波

华人之光林书豪的族裔背景，在西方传媒的报导和热议之中，惹起的争议有多宗，最值得分析的是： CHINK IN THE ARMOR事件，算不算辱华？当事人的意向和处理手法怎样？族裔诽谤Racial Slur 情况严重吗？？

着名体育频道ESPN在上週五晚，当林书豪的纽约人队不敌黄蜂队，中止7连胜，该网站即时以Chink in the armor来比喻”盔甲的弱点终告暴露”，放在林书豪比赛图片下面 ，作为headline标题 or caption说明文字。

原文是：” Chink in the Armor ：Jeremy Lin’s 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streaking-stopping Loss to Hornets ”。 体育比赛的术语streaking是an unbroken series of wins or losses, 当中streaking-stopping loss便是指：林书豪这场赛事失水准，是打破纽约人队连赢7场的致命伤，是评语，也是事实。

问题出在CHINK字，使人引起“中国佬”的联想，在英文俚语中，chink=an offensive or derogative slang used as a disparaging term for a Chinese person，正如用nigger称呼黑人，加上chink的裂缝联想，对华人矇猪眼有容貌偏见的定型stereotyping，于是即时使美国亚裔人士产生直觉的反应，认为是超出玩弄语带相关的文字punning或开玩笑joking的程度，可能有racial slur意图歧视或侮辱华人的成份，若果林书豪本人或亚裔群体感到受伤害，某程度上，已构成体育编辑Anthony Federico的法律责任。

事件的结果 ：the on air personality has been suspended for 30 days , while the web producer who wrote the headline was fired。该编辑向报章New York Daily News说：”I ‘loved to tell Jeremy what happened and explained that this was an honest mistake”。他的公开道歉，也得到当事人的谅解，虽然他心心不忿的加上一句， 过去几年，他用过同一句话，不下百次! 又说 ：”This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny ”，表示他无意故作俏皮话，卖弄小聪明， 语带相关，只是诚实的失误而已！

我认为问题一切出在CONTEXT。A Chink in the armor离开这个发生争议的环境没有问题，a chink in somebody’s armor是一个很普通的成语， an idiomatic expression meaning a weakness in somebody’s argument, character, etc., that can be used in an attack，指论点、性格等易受攻击的缺陷和薄弱环节，恰似一袭有机可乘，出现裂缝的甲胄，例如牛津成语字典的示范句：“The one chink in her armor is the lack of a sense of humour. She hates people laughing at her”。

去年我替Collins出版社繙译英文成语字典的中文解释和背境时，也注重到A CHINK IN THE ARMOR这个习用语的来龙去脉，没有见到一个CHINK字，便有不悦的反应：If you say that someone or something has a chink in their armor, you mean that they have a weakness that can be taken advantage of, although they appear outwardly to be very strong and successful，在评论体育比场时，很派用场，跟另一句形容致命伤的习用语somebody’s Achilles hell =a hidden weakness or fault in somebody which may be used to harm them，有异曲同功之妙，近乎电视流行问答比赛节目Weakest Link的涵意。

事件的解决方式总算得体，除了林书豪大方的回应：”They’ve apologized, and so from my end, I don’t care anymore. You have to learn to forgive, and I don’t even think that was intentional ”。当事人不介意评述员出言不逊，美国的亚裔群体也就只好大方地收货了。况且，ESPN发表的声明，用字遣词，也是public relations公关和damage control危机管理的杰作：“We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian –American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future 。