1

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DISCRIMINATORY LANGUAGE USE IN THE

TV–SITCOM "Everybody Loves Raymond"

Our use of language embodies attitudes as well as referential meanings.

Robin Lakoff, 19731

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Social Implications of Discriminatory Language

"Language both shapes and reflects social reality. Discriminatory language is therefore

both a symptom of, and a contributor to, the unequal social status of women, people with a

disability and people from various ethnic and racial backgrounds."2

This means that language may not be seen as simply a neutral tool for the transmission

of referential meaning, because it is an important instrument of social practice, which contrib-

utes to the communication, maintenance and change of ideologies, attitudes and stereotypes.

You may include or exclude other people from social occurrences only by means of language,

or its potential to build and protect or disrupt social relations.3

Discriminatory language is the one aimed at a range of different identity features like

sex and gender, sexuality, race, class, age, physical or mental disability, religious or political

beliefs, socio-economic status and background. It is used in order to create or intensify

1 Lakoff, R., Language and woman's place, Language in Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, Cambridge University Press, April 1973, pp. 45-802The University of Salford: A GUIDE TO NON-DISCRIMINATORY LANGUAGE. Taken from:

http://policies.salford.ac.uk/display.php?id=186, 15 November, 20113 Cfr. Hellinger, M., Guidelines for Non-discriminatory Langauge Use,The Sage Handbook of Sociolinguistic,sage Publications Inc., UK, 2011, p.565

37

differences and intolerance among people. The complex social category of identity has great

implications for language, which becomes the most successful way of transferring a

discriminatory message.

Discriminatory language4 may have the following forms:

a) Stereotypes

A stereotype is a conventional and simplistic image of a person or a particular group,

usually formed by isolating or exaggerating certain features—physical, intellectual, cultural,

national, religious, occupational, personal, customary, and so on—which seem to characterize

a group or person, thus making that group or person extravagant or odd in a positive or

negative sense.

These are some of the common stereotypes5:

- Jews are greedy, nit-picky, stingy misers.

- Italians are delinquent, tolerant of violence and political corruption.

- Physically attractive people also possess other socially desirable personality traits.

- Nurses are commonly expected to be female and so male nurses are stereotyped as

effeminate and homosexual.

4 Cfr. What is discriminatory language? At: http://www.equity.uts.edu.au/language/inclusive/why.html, 15 November 2011

5Cfr. STEREOTYPE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype, 15 November 2011

37

- Females should marry and have children. They should also be loving, compassionate,

caring, nurturing, sympathetic and attractive.

- Males are financial providers. They are usually assertive, competitive, independent,

courageous, career-focuses, unemotional and authoritarian.

Derogatory labels

A derogatory label is an offensive term used to mark an individual or a group, usually

having unforeseen consequences, adversely affecting not only the person aimed at but also the

society as a whole.

As with stereotypes, labels are in most cases inaccurate, reductive and overly simplistic.

Usual examples include the imposed label ‘queue jumpers’ to refer to refugees or asylum

seekers, ‘welfare cheats’ for the unemployed, ‘wogs’ for European immigrants and their

children, ‘poofters’ for gay men, ‘abos’ for Indigenous Australians, ‘bimbos’ for blondes,

‘spazzes’ for people living with cerebral palsy, and ‘geriatrics’ for older people.

Offensive language

Sometimes discussions and debates over particular topics get heated, which results in

shouting and offences among participants. Such forms of language are referred to as

expletives- exclamations, swearwords or oaths and sounds expressing an emotional reaction

rather than any particular meaning (the F-word, but also “dummy subjects” like “it is”, “there

are” etc.).

37

Trivializing language

Language that trivializes and makes the other person inferior. It reinforces differences in

power between the ‘in-group’ and the ‘out-group’ by using patronizing and demeaning terms,

comments and jokes such as:

a) ‘Girls in the office’, ‘just a housewife’, and ‘checkout chick’: trivialisation

along gender lines often disparages women’s work. Alternatives are: office

worker, homeworker, salesperson.

b) Dear, love, sweetie, for women, or gran for an older person: which are

inappropriate if there is no established familiarity between speaker and

addressee.

Extra-visibility

Mentioning people’s sex, sexuality, race, ethnic or national background, accent, or

disability, or drawing attention to their physical characteristics or features – however

unintentionally or unwittingly – contributes to the negative ways by which these people are

regarded and treated.

Invisibility

Discriminative language may also be noticed through invisibility. For example, the

word ‘man’ used to refer to all people erases women from the category of ‘people’.

37

Another form of discriminatory invisibility is the false generic, denoting that the word is used

generically when it refers to all the members of a class. But, while implying to refer to all

those members, actually leaves some members out. For example, the following statement by a

woman comes from a daytime television show:

‘All the women in our audience will be thrilled by the firemen’s calendar this year.’

This claim uses ‘women’ as a false generic by assuming that the audience is composed of

heterosexual women only; lesbians are made invisible by the statement, as are any men in the

audience who might be interested in the calendar.

1.2. Motivation

This paper grew out of a desire to investigate the relation of gender and discriminatory

language in the American TV-sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond .₺ ₺

A situation comedy or sitcom is a TV- show in which "setting and a group of characters

provide the opportunity for a comic narrative, usually resolved in 25-30 minutes (although the

‘situation’ remains open to future disruption), and broadcast in a series of five or more

episodes."6

Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond₺ ₺ is an American TV- sitcom that originally ran on CBS

from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Situations from the show mainly present the real-

6 Stafford, R.: TV Sitcoms and Gender, Media Education Magazine, Riddlesden, Keighley, 2004, pp. 1-5; http://www.mediaculture-online.de, 23 October, 2011

37

life experiences of the main actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the

show's writing staff. The main characters on the show are also created on Romano's and

Rosenthal's real-life family members.

The sitcom describes the life of an Italian-American newspaper sportswriter called

Raymond Barone, who lives with his family in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York.

Disorganized and light-minded, Raymond makes jokes all the time, no matter how troubling

or problematic the situation were, and constantly avoids responsibilities as a husband and

father.

1.3. Area of Investigation

Language is one of the most notable features that sets ₺Everybody Loves Raymond₺

apart from many other similar American sitcoms. The language of the five main characters

reflects everyday expectations about masculine and feminine ways of speaking, but also how

discriminatory utterances may affect people around us. Theories on language and gender, but

also on depricating humor use keep pace with this assumption.

The five main characters of the show are completely different from each other in their

behavior and personality. "Is it possible to distinguish different linguistic behavior in the

characters? Are the individual characters’ personalities manifested through their language? " 7

These are only a few of the questions that made the author interested in investigating and

analyzing the language used in this TV-sitcom. Another important motive is the action on the

screen as a representation of the real world.

1.4. Hypotheses

7 Skov, Andersen M. L. at al :Blurred Sex and the City - An Analysis of Language and Gender in Sex and the City, http://rudar.ruc.dk/handle/1800/1653, 23 October 2011

37

a) There are some preconcieved ideas about women and men incorporated into the script of

the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond .₺ ₺

b) Men and women do act differently in discriminatory language use.

1.5. Research Questions

a) How is gender represented through the main characters’ use of discriminatory language?

b) Does the language in ₺Everybody Loves Raymond₺ reflect how women and men talk to

each other in reality?

1.6 Methodology

Exploring the gender differences in discriminatory language used in the TV-sitcom

₺Everybody Loves Raymond₺ required several methodological proceedures described as

follows:

Preparation for this sociolinguistic analysis included watching 10 randomly chosen episodes of

the show found on the Internet. It also required re-watching the episodes and taking notes into a

special coding sheet.

In addition, we went through a detailed linguistic analysis of the discriminatory features in

the characters' language, which led us to giving some suggestions and discussing a few

implications for the future reseach.

1.7. Limitations

37

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the discriminatory language features in the

language of the 5 main characters of the sit-com "Everybody Loves Raymond , so other₺

conversational elements including pauses, interruptions and nonverbal communication, are

left out of this study. The paper analyzes only 10 different episodes, so we are aware of the

fact that it cannot portray the series as a whole in terms of language. But the scenes that were

chosen seemed as valuable examples of meaningful gender characteristics within

discriminatory language use.

Finally, the series "Everybody Loves Raymond," was produced in the USA and reflects

the cultural reality of an American family. If it were a British or other production, there would

certainly be some cultural differences, but, in this context, they would probably be negligible.

2. THEORETHICAL FRAMEWORK

"Watching television is a way to both escape from physical reality and learn social

actions. People may or may not admit imitating behaviors they are exposed to on television,

but (...), there is modeling occurring constantly."8

TV-sitcoms mostly deal with situations that are familiar to the ordinary people like making

and having dinner, dating, shopping, working and spending free time, which makes them very

popular source of entertainment.

8 Hummel, L.; Shake, S.:Exploring gender differences in deprecatory humor use: Discriminatory utterances aimed at women. Hanover College, April 2007 AT: http://psych.hanover.edu/research/thesis07/HummelShakePaper.pdf

37

However, a few studies discussed that such shows might breed and encourage social

inequality, especially due to the fact that modern society is mostly consisted of people in

₺higher₺ and ₺lower₺ positions. This social inequality is rather evident considering the

discriminatory language used in tv-sitcoms.

Hummel and Shake9 say: ₺Television is one medium that allows reality to be both

reflected and later afected₺, which makes it a great source of information for sociolinguists.

The use of discriminatory utterances aimed at different social groups, has probably been a

major problem since the invention of sitcoms.10

Most theorists report that this kind of humorous language has extremely negative

consequences for the society as a whole.

Berger11 says: ₺the ability to direct laughter at individuals, groups, institutions, ideas, what

you will, is really a form of power... ₺

However, this "power" might be dangerous in cases where it breeds and encourages social

inequality and intolerace towards social differences. This has been well-described by Ford and

Ferguson12, who developed the Prejudiced Norm Theory claiming that "when exposed to

prejudical jokes, people may begin to accept the norm of prejudice implied by the joke."13

This leads to uncriticalness considering the discriminatory jokes aimed at different social

9 Ibidem…, p. 9

10 Pinwright's Progress was a British sitcom that aired on the BBC Television Service from 1946 to 1947 and was the world's first regular half-hour sitcom. Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinwright's_Progress:Pinwright's Progress, 11 January 2011

11 Berger, A.A., The Anatomy of Humor, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, 1993,p. 9; At:http://books.google.hr/, 22 November 2011

12 Viki Tendayi, G. at al,The Effect of Sexist Humor and Type of Rape on Men's Self-reported Rape Proclivity and Victim Blame, Current Reseach in Social Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 10, Iowa University, 2007; At: http://www.uiowa.edu, 22 November 2011, pp.123-12413 Ibidem, p.124

37

groups. For example, men become more tolerant of a sexist event after being exposed to

sexist humor.14

Breeding and encouraging social inequality or prejudices through humor

"communicates a message of tacit approval of tolerance of discrimination against members of

the targeted group."15

Kaschak gives a perspective that is focused on society's role in shaping gender

inequality, claiming that "men grow and develop in societies that give them power in the

household and in the workplace; women grow and develop in these societies where they are

viewed as subservient and as males' possessions."16

Hummel and Shake present a new way of exploring depricatory humor use, with a

special accent on gender-specific humorous language features, showing that popular tv-

sitcoms, which greatly influence young generations, do encourage and perpetate social

(especially gender) ineaquality.17

Newman at al pointed out that "gender differences in language use likely reflect a

complex combination of social goals, situational demands, and socialization"18, which is,

actually, taken as the guiding principle of the current study.

This particular study investigated discriminatory humor used in the TV-sitcom

"Everybody Loves Raymond", also trying to indicate the possible negative effects of such

humor on the future generations.

14 Ibidem, p.124.

15 Ford, T. E., Ferguson, M. A., Social Consequences of Disparagement Humor: A Prejudiced Norm Theory, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2004, Vol. 8, No. 1, 79-94. Taken from: http://psr.sagepub.com at UNIV OF MINNESOTA DULUTH on February 19, 200816 Hummel, L.; Shake, S.:Exploring gender differences in deprecatory humor use: Discriminatory utterances aimed at women. Hanover College, April 2007 AT: http://psych.hanover.edu/research/thesis07/HummelShakePaper.pdf17 Ibidem,

18 Newman, M. at al, Gender Differences in Language Use:An Analysis of 14,000 Text Samples, Discourse Processes, No 45, Routledge, 2008, pp. 211–236

37

3. ANALYSIS

Investigating the discriminatory language used in the TV-sitcom "Everybody Loves

Raymond", with a special review of the gender differences in application of such utterances,

required a few analytical proceedures: watching the sitcom, recording and re-listening the

characteristic utterances, completing the forms adopted from the Hummel and Shake coding

scheme19, doing statistical analysis and, finally, discussing the findings.

While doing the total analysis of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond we bore in₺ ₺

mind the fact that comical situations in the sitcom are actually created through interpersonal

conflict defined as“ a struggle between two people because they have conflicting goals or

needs or because of some misunderstanding”.20 Interpersonal conflicts are an interesting " part

of everyday life and may be seen from minor disagreements with friends, families, spouses,

and others to major disputes, which may be deciding factors for the future of certain relation-

ships."21 These conflicts are represented through the language, as the most important vehicle

of discriminatory humor in the sitcom mentioned, which will be shown in the further analysis.

19 Ibidem,

20 Fernandez, A., Conflict Analysis on Everybody Loves Raymond, Farquhar Student Journal, Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2008, p.2 At: www.fcas.nova.edu/arts/...fall/Fernandez.pdf -21 Ibidem, p.2

37

3.1. Data collection

As mentioned earlier, the study of discriminatory humor in the American TV series

"Everybody Loves Raymond", included watching some randomly chosen episodes from

different seasons of the sitcom. We watched at a total of 10 randomly chosen episodes from

the first 5 seasons. During the preliminary watching of these episodes, special attention was

devoted to relation of the discriminatory statements and gender. Due to the needs of the

research, selected episodes were watched again in order to carefully record each characteristic

linguistic behavior of the characters. Discriminatory statements were recorded in the so-called

coding scheme, adapted from the scheme that had been made by Shake and Hummel, whose

work dealt with a similar linguistic issue.

3.1.1.Coding scheme

Development of the Coding Scheme (see Appendix 1) has greatly facilitated this study

because we recorded all the characteristic discriminatory statements of the characters, taking

into account the time when something was spoken, gender of the speakers and interlocutors

and the discriminatory contents of the statement. All these items are shown in tables in

separate columns in order to facilitate the readers’ reference.

3.1.2.Data

The sit-com "Everybody Loves Raymond" was selected for this study because it shows

almost a typical middle class family of the father, who is the family’s bread-provider, and a

full-time housewife and mother, who live in a typical American home with their three

children. An emphasis is put on marital relations of Raymond and Debra and their everyday

37

family life, which is regularly violated by Raymond’s demanding and intolerant parents and

unmarried and historically jealous older brother.

The fact that there are stil re-runs of this sitcom in many European countries is very

important because this means that it is very close to the ordinary people for reflecting their

own everyday family lives, which also makes it a very appropriate material for investigation

in social sciences and humanities.

3.1.3.Apparatus

The total of 10 episodes of the series were watched via the Internet service YouTube,

which has proven as an extremely useful source of information, since it contained almost all

episodes of the series with the English subtitles included. In addition, the reproduction of the

series on YouTube may be paused when necessary, which greatly facilitated the recording of

the characteristic discriminatory statements that were investigated in this study.

3.1.4.Data Analysis

a) Coding schemes analysis

After coding the data relevant to the analysis of discriminatory language spoken in the

series "Everybody Loves Raymond", we presented the total number of characteristic

utterances in a table, as well as the number of such utterances in relation to the speaker and

addressee's gender. From this review it is evident that the males in the series speak in a

discriminatory way more often than the females, as shown in the table below:

37

Table 1: The number of discriminatory utterances according to gender and aim

COMPLETE

NUMBER OF

UTTERANCES

SPOKEN

BY MALES

SPOKEN

BY

FEMALES

AIMED

AT

MALES

AIMED AT

FEMALES

AIMED

AT

BOTH

73 47 26 32 37 4

We may also notice that discriminatory utterances in this series are more addressed to females

than to males.

After that we looked at the topics that were mostly discussed by the characters and

classified them according to gender of the speaker and frequency of occurrence. We have also

chosen the topics mutually used by both male and female characters in order to compare their

occurrence. This comparison also showed that males were more apt to speak in a

discriminatory way, which may be seen from the table and diagram below:

Table 2: The topics mutually used by both male and female characters

MALES FEMALES

masculinity vs femininity 9 3

sexual orientation 4 2

one's personality 31 11

37

Chart 1: The graphical presentation of the topics mutually used by both male and female

characters

b) Language analysis

In this section a qualitative analysis of discriminatory language is given regarding the

following components of such a language: stereotypes, derogatory labels, offensive language,

trivializing language, extra-visibility and invisibility.

All these elements were analyzed taking into account the gender of the speakers and

"targets" to which discriminatory remarks were addressed.

Male Language

The analysis of the particular statements given by the male characters from the series

"Everybody Loves Raymond" shows that they often use discriminatory language, mentioning

37

gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or physical appearance of the person to whom the

statement is addressed, which is usually a woman. In these statements, one might notice

stereotypical views that men are the measure of all things, and that their physical and mental

characteristics as well as their deeds, thoughts and beliefs make the image of the human race

in general. We will take a few expressions in order to show how language may act as a

"vehicle for discrimination".22

Some statements of the male characters go deep into the area of basic human rights,

promoting inequality among people, especially gender inequality. Man stands out as the head

of the family and masculine as the superior gender, which is best seen from the following

example:

SEASON 4 EPISODE 2: YOU BET

Frank: Well, let me tell you something. God programmed man to sow his seed where he

may. He programmed woman to limit the crop to one farmer.This broad didn't get with

the programme.

The whole utterance above is totally discriminatory towards women, but the usage of

the personal pronoun he is the most important indicator of gender stereotyping in this case. It

is obvious that he in this particular utterance is used on purpose in order to emphasize that

even God is a male, so that the masculine gender must be the generic gender.

The pronoun woman is also used as a marker of female inferiority and ignorance, as

shown in the example below:

22 Cfr. Inclusive Language at :www.adcet.edu.au/StoredFile.aspx?...

37

SEASON 4 EPISODE 10: LEFT BACK

Frank: That's right. I schmoozed her. Hey, she is a human being. And a woman.

Ray: Oh, no.

Frank: And being a woman...she's a sucker for the old „look how many photos of the

children grandpa has in his wallet “ bit.

What may also be noticed in the language of the male characters in the sitcom analyzed

is an opened discriminatory portrayal of sexual identity, especially referred to males.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: CIVIL WAR

Frank to his pall Jeb: Yeah. You know what my son's doing while I'm out fighting? He's

going to a baby shower.

Jeb: Oh, yeah? Back in Civil War days we had names for guys like you. They're prettly

much like the names we have for you today.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: CIVIL WAR

Frank (to Ray): Have a nice shower, Nancy!

SEASON 3 EPISODE 14: PANTS ON FIRE

Ray (to Frank): I'm cold, too.

Frank: Oh, you cupcake.

37

The descriptive expressions guys like you, Nancy, or cupcake from the examples above

appear in order to present sexual identity as an indicator of interests or abilities, which is to-

tally unacceptable in contemporary world.

Offensive, ironic and derogatory utterances or expressions at the expense of women,

homosexuals and everything else that is unusual or "different" in any sense act as a spice

added to the true "male humor" in the series, as follows from the lower examples:

Derogatory labels

SEASON 4 EPISODE 3: THE CAN OPENER

Robert to Ray: You stick to your guns, Deb, OK? Raymond's a jerk. I know the whole story,

jerk. One little drop of fish juice, and you squeal like a stuck pig.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 10: LEFT BACK

Ray: Ha, ha. Very funny. You have a stupid kid, you don't even care.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 11: THE CHRISTMAS PICTURE

Robert: Excuse me , Ray, can I ask you something?

Ray: what?

Robert: Amy (Robert's girlfriend) can't be in the picture, but there's plenty of room for hoity

and toity (Debra's parents)?

37

SEASON 4 EPISODE 13: BULLY ON THE BUS

Ray: See? Right there. That's what I'm talking about. That attitude. That smarty-pants, stick

up for yourself...

...

Ray: That's right. Every jerk I ever met was self-confident.

...

Ray: See? You're bringing Ally into the family business. Debra Barone's Ass Kicking

Incorporated.

Pushing people down since 1972.

....

Ray: Bully! You bully!

...

You're stupid, idiot, stinker BM!

SEASON 5 EPISODE 8: FIGHTING IN-LAWS

Ray: Either way, your perfect little Connecticut „cut the crust of my cucumber

sandwich“ parents are frauds.

37

Offensive language

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: CIVIL WAR

Ray: Couples? Well, since when does the guy have to go to that? Oh, come on , they're

screwing with nature now.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 3: THE CAN OPENER

Frank: Ray…I'm going to give you the secret to marital bliss.

…

You see, son, when your mother got pregnant with Robert, the hormones turned her into a nut

case. She'd cry for no reason, two seconds later she'd want to cuddle. She was, like,

demented.

Frank: Did it bother me? No. Because you cannot get upset with a crazy person. I decided

fro that day on never to waste time on trying to understand your mother. I just accept she's

insane.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 10: LEFT BACK

Frank: And being a woman...she's a sucker for the old „look how many photos of the

children grandpa has in his wallet “ bit.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 14: PRODIGAL SON

37

Frank: We don't need you part-timers droppin' by whenever you feel like it. It screws up the

parking.

Male characters are also prone to using expressions which bring extra-visibility into the

conversation, which means that they include irrelevant information about the addressee.

Including irrelevant information can be discriminatory where that information:₺

Overemphasizes a particular characteristic that is irrelevant or of minor importance, or

sensationalizes aspects of a person's life or life style.₺23

The following examples show how extra-visibility may give a lot of importance to irrel-

evant information, and put the person in the background, emphasizing the person’s physical

appearance or sexual orientation, which have no impact on the quality of one’s personality.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 14: PANTS ON FIRE

Marie: I'm freezing. (to Frank) What is it with you, we all have to get pneumonia so you can

save 3 cents?

Frank (to Marie):You know, most of the bodies heat escapes through the head, so you

might want to seal up any large openings.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 2: YOU BET

Ray: I was in the Giants' locker room. I ended up in shower with Joe Taggert.

...and you know what he says to me?

23 Ibidem…

37

Frank: „Do my back?“

SEASON 5 EPISODE 8: FIGHTING IN-LAWS

Robert: There's something about Debra's mom. She gives me the willies.

Frank: What about the husband? He's the weird one.He's got all that lotion on him.All

slick and moist like a beaver running through the woods.

Male characters in the sit-com mentioned use partial invisibility as their discriminatory

language strategy as well.

The word ₺ invisibility is used in here to indicate that a certain group of people (women,

for example) is linguistically subsumed under a label, name or term predominantly used to de-

scribe another group. The use of words and phrases such as "chairman", businessman", "man

in the street" and others, as well as the pronoun "he", makes the presence of women in lan-

guage invisible. ₺24

The term partial invisibility refers to the example below:

SEASON 1 EPISODE 22: WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?

Raymond (after Debra told him that they are having twin boys): Am I a man, or what?!

Huh!Oh!

From this example it is clear that the word man is the most prominent word in

Raymond’s sentence, and masculinity is restated as the best human attribute. So, women are

24 Ibidem…

37

not linguistically subsumed under the term, but the repeated and strong emphasis on the word

man makes women invisible and unimportant in the whole picture.

Finally, we should say a few words about the trivializing language used by men in order

to minimize the importance of women, their deeds and accomplishments.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: CIVIL WAR

Debra: You can recite a poem, do a skit. The proud parents will tape it as a tribute to the child.

Ray: A tribute? Who's she's got in there, a Gandhi?

SEASON 4 EPISODE 2: YOU BET

Frank: Well, let me tell you something. God programmed man to sow his seed where he

may. He programmed woman to limit the crop to one farmer.This broad didn't get with

the programme.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 10: LEFT BACK

Frank: That's right. I schmoozed her. Hey, she is a human being. And a woman.

...

You know, those teachers don't make squat.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 13: BULLY ON THE BUS

Robert (to Ray):Yeah. All right, all right, here's the one you can use: „Debra, Debra real

good lookin', never wanna try her cookin'.“

37

This kind of language trivializes females’ existence and portrays males as superior

gender.

If we take only the word broad from the second example below, we might be surprised

at some of the definitions of the term in the Urban Dictionary25 which say:

1

broad

A term originated in the 1930's meaning woman; derived from the fact that the most

defining characteristic of all females are their hips, which are proportionally wider than the

hips of their male counterparts.

"Look at those broads."

2

broad

A lot of Italians and Italian-Americans use this.

It is a word you use to describe a female. Used alot durring the 1930's - 1950's. Now it is not

as popular because most guys aren't respectable anymore. There are some guys who still use

the term today.

John: Hey you see that broad over there?

Tommy: Yeah thats one good

The above examples show how women in the series, but also women in general, are not

treated as whole human beings and with equal respect and dignity as men.Women are mostly

25 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=broad

37

presented through bodily images, despite of their intellectual capacities or other qualities.

Female Language

Generally speaking, women in the series "Everybody Loves Raymond" use

discriminatory language less than men. However, they are not resistant to the use of

stereotypical or insulting expressions if they come into conflict, especially with members of

the opposite sex.

Stereotypical remarks used by female characters in the series are less focused on the

opposite sex, and more on the family relationships or perpetual conflict between the mother-

in-law and daughter-in-law, which is expressed in the examples below:

SEASON 4 EPISODE 9: NO THANKS

Debra: Yeah, today was nice. But I can't be in the kitchen with your mother. That's the

belly of the beast.

SEASON 5 EPISODE 8: FIGHTING IN-LAWS

Marie: Aw, isn't that nice? Connecticut grandma and grandpa and regular

grandma and grandpa.

However, after watching some episodes of the series, we suggest that women characters

are able to speak in a very powerful and innovative way considering the use of offensive or

derogatory terms, which is supported by the following examples:

Derogatory labels

37

SEASON 4 EPISODE 13: BULLY ON THE BUS

Ray: That's right. Every jerk I ever met was self-confident.

Debra:Yeah. Not every jerk.

...

Debra: That's better than working at Ray's House of Wuss.

...

Debra: Hey, Lay-mond, gay-mond go away-mond!

SEASON 5 EPISODE 8: FIGHTING IN-LAWS

Debra: Or, they're trying to work out some problems before their marriage turns into a

screaming match, like your parents'. Arguing about how deep pan is before it's a pot.

(Imitates Ray's parents) "If it's three inches, it's a pot, everybody knows that, Marie!"

"If you can't boli an egg, then it's not a pot, you jackass!"

...

Debra: If my parents lit an orphanage on fire on Christmass Eve, they wouldn't be as bad as

your parents!

Offensive language

37

SEASON 5 EPISODE 8: FIGHTING IN-LAWS

Debra: (Imitates Ray's parents) :

Frank: "If it's three inches, it's a pot, everybody knows that, Marie!"

Marie: "If you can't boli an egg, then it's not a pot, you jackass!"

Women in the series are an endless source of sarcastic remarks and interesting

metaphors that contribute to the quality of humor in the series. Specifically, comparing Frank

and Marie’s marriage to a "screaming match" or make a whole lot of sarcastic derivatives

from the name Raymond, as lay-mond, gay-mond, go-away-mond, serve as an evidence of the

screenwriters’ sophisticated linguistic skills. However, we must not ignore the fact that these,

seemingly harmless jokes, might have some far reaching consequences in terms of public

attitudes towards the groups affected.

Furthermore, we could say that women in the series are highly sophisticated and skilled

considering the trivializing language. They put people down unmercifully with just a few

simple words used in the right moment as follows from the examples below:

SEASON 3 EPISODE 22: WORKING GIRL

Debra: oh, my God. Oh, my God. I have to iron.

Marie: Don't panic, dear. I'll walk you through it.

...

37

Marie: Oh, yes, dear. I can't stop wondering about the children, though. They're already

so thin.

...

And I'll wait for them here. Someone has to be home now they are latchkey children.

...

Marie (to Debra): Oh, I'm sorry you've got fired. But, you know, it's probably for the

best. If you want to expand your horizons, how about taking up gardening? I mean,

you yard could use a lot of work.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 9: NO THANKS

Marie: Debra, I don't know why your rolls are all left. I liked them. The burnt part gave

them some flavour.

Oh, and don't worry about that pots and pans, honey. I know how to do those.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 10: LEFT BACK

Ray: Come on, don't you see? That's what I passed on to Michael. That's my legacy, the

dumbness.

Debra: No...You've passed on other things. You lack of tushie.

The patronizing expressions above starting with oh or oh, dear, and fullfilled with false

compassion, may be devastating considering the self-esteem and self-respect of the addressee.

37

Female characters in the series are also prone to giving additional descriptions for each

topic, even if it meant giving extra information that does not contribute to the quality of the

expression:

Extra-visibility

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: CIVIL WAR

Debra (to Ray): Oh, loook, as bad as this shower might be, it doesn't even compare to

your dad's Civil War thing....

Can you imagine being stuck in a tent with your dad? That's where you need the ax.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 13: BULLY ON THE BUS

Debra: Listen. I know the idea of being independent is very different than your mother

raised you.

SEASON 5 EPISODE 8: FIGHTING IN-LAWS

Debra: Would you just go to sleep? You should be happy to have normal people in the

house for a change.

...

Debra: And my parents, unlike yours, don't feel the need to inflict their lives on

everybody else.

Debra: Or, they're trying to work out some problems before their marriage turns into a

screaming match, like your parents'. Arguing about how deep pan is before it's a pot.

37

(Imitates Ray's parents) "If it's three inches, it's a pot, everybody knows that, Marie!"

"If you can't boli an egg, then it's not a pot, you jackass!"

Debra: If my parents lit an orphanage on fire on Christmass Eve, they wouldn't be as

bad as your parents!

37

5. Conclusive Remarks and Implications for Future Research

Although there were a few previuos research26 considering the relationship of gender

and discriminatory humor in tv-sitcoms, we might say there has been a gap in the existing

bibliography in regards to the topic mentioned.

In support to our first hypothesis supposing that there are some preconcieved ideas

about women and men incorporated into the script of the sitcom Everybody loves Raymond,

we did find many examples of such ideas incorporated into the text spoken by the characters

in the sitcom, especially among the male characters.

As opposed to Hummel and Shake's findings27, we found that males did say significantly more

discriminatory utterances than females (see Table 1). We believe the reason for that lies in the

fact that males exibit their social power and privileges over females through the language.

"Just as male dominance is exhibited through male control of macro-institutions in society, it

is also exhibited through male control of at least a part of micro-institutions"28, which is, in

this case, their linguistic ability to show power.

Considering our second hypothesis, supposing that men and women do act differently in

discriminatory language use, we revealed that there was a higher percentage of discriminatory

utterances used by the male characters in the sitcom, wheteher aimed at females or different

social groups, especially homosexuals.

26 See: Hummel, L.; Shake, S.:Exploring gender differences in deprecatory humor use: Discriminatory utterances aimed at women. Hanover College, April 2007, p.15

27 Hummel, L.; Shake, S.:Exploring gender differences in deprecatory humor use: Discriminatory utterances aimed at women. Hanover College, April 2007 , p.15: "We found that females did say significantly more deprecating utterances than males (see Figure 1)."

28 Zimmerman, Don/West, Candice: "Sex Roles, Interruptions and Silences in Conversations". In: Thorne, Barrie/Henley, Nancy (eds.): Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance, 1975, p.125

37

However, this may not be taken as a general truth, due to the fact that only one sitcom was

analyzed, but might serve as an interesting basis for the future studies dealing with similar

social issues.

In addition, the current study revealed that female characters in the sitcom „Everybody

Loves Raymond“ do use discriminatory language in order to achieve humoristic effect, but

they seem to do that in a more refined way than the male characters. Respecting the findings

above, we could say that they do confirm our second hypothesis.

Finally, the researcher found the analysis of the sitcom „Everybody Loves Raymond“ as

an inspiring source of information about interpersonal relationships in a typical suburbian

American family.

However, the comical effect which is achieved mainly through crude and discriminatory

humor should get more researchers interested in similar analyses, especially considering the

influence of such television shows on younger generations, who are prone to identify with the

shows' characters.

So, the producers should bare in mind the influence of their work on the audience in general,

especially children going through the sensitive period of puberty due to the fact that modern

teenagers are being bombed with different information and influenced by the mass media₺ ₺

representation of what is correct and socially accepted.

37

6. Bibliography

1 Berger, A.A., The Anatomy of Humor, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New

Jersey, USA, 1993, p. 9

2 Fernandez, A., Conflict Analysis on Everybody Loves Raymond, Farquhar Student

Journal, Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2008, p.2

3 Ford, T. E., Ferguson, M. A., Social Consequences of Disparagement Humor: A

Prejudiced Norm Theory, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2004, Vol. 8,

No. 1, 79-94.

4 Hellinger, M., Guidelines for Non-discriminatory Langauge Use,The Sage Handbook

of Sociolinguistic,sage Publications Inc., UK, 2011, p.565

37

5 Hummel, L.; Shake, S.:Exploring gender differences in deprecatory humor use:

Discriminatory utterances aimed at women. Hanover College, April 2007

6 Lakoff, R., Language and woman's place, Language in Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, Cam-

bridge University Press, April 1973, pp. 45-80

7 Newman, M. at al, Gender Differences in Language Use:An Analysis of 14,000 Text

Samples, Discourse Processes, No 45, Routledge, 2008, pp. 211–236

8 Skov, Andersen M. L. at al : Blurred Sex and the City - An Analysis of Language and

Gender in Sex and the City, RUDAR - Roskilde University Digital Archive, Projectre-

ports and master thesis, 2005

9 Stafford, R.: TV Sitcoms and Gender, Media Education Magazine, Riddlesden,

Keighley, 2004, pp. 1-5

10 Viki Tendayi, G. at al, The Effect of Sexist Humor and Type of Rape on Men's Self-

reported Rape Proclivity and Victim Blame, Current Reseach in Social Psychology,

Vol. 13, No. 10, Iowa University, 2007, pp.123-124

11 Zimmerman, Don/West, Candice: "Sex Roles, Interruptions and Silences in

Conversations". In: Thorne, Barrie/Henley, Nancy (eds.) (1975): Language and Sex:

Difference and Dominance. Rowley; p 125.

37

WEB PAGES

1 The University of Salford: A GUIDE TO NON-DISCRIMINATORY LANGUAGE. Taken

from: http://policies.salford.ac.uk/display.php?id=186, 15 November, 2011

2 What is discriminatory language? At:

http://www.equity.uts.edu.au/language/inclusive/why.html, 15 November 2011

3 STEREOTYPE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype, 15 November 2011

4 EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND,

http :// en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Everybody _ Loves _ Raymond , 15 November 2011

5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinwright's_Progress:Pinwright's Progress, 11 January 2011

6 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Gordon_Allport

7 Inclusive Language at: www.adcet.edu.au/StoredFile.aspx?...

8 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=broad

37