Calling a Criminal or a Suspect “Gentleman”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Beverly.

Hey, Beverly, where are you calling us from?

Richmond, Virginia.

All right.

Hi, Beverly, welcome to the show.

How can we help?

Well, I have been aware recently of hearing the term gentleman used in some sort of strange context, primarily with reference to like a perpetrator of a heinous act of some sort. And it’s usually law enforcement personnel giving a report or local news people or sometimes even the victims.

For example, there was one that said that a gentleman wearing a ski mask held up a convenience store. Another one was a gentleman exposed himself to a group of young girls. And that’s just not been my idea of what a gentleman is, and I’m just curious about why they choose to use that term.

Yeah, you sort of picture a guy in a tie and tails. Top hat.

Exactly.

Top hat and a ski mask.

Yeah, I’ve seen this so many times, and it’s the kind of thing that people can’t stop themselves from doing, apparently. My dad, by the way, was a cop for a long time. And I know that cop voice that you’re talking about, that way where they go for this elevated language to make it sound official or important. And they don’t quite get there.

And I think that’s a lot of what’s happening there is if you say there was this dude, you know, it’s not quite as the same thing. There was this gentleman. And we don’t mean the top hat and tails guy, right?

Yeah.

Gentleman has so many, like just like lady. It has all these variations.

Yeah.

I mean, I’m with you, Beverly. I think it’s sort of self-conscious and performative.

Yeah, that’s what I was saying. More really generous, I think.

Well, I think what’s losing out here is they realize that it’s a heinous act, as you put it, Beverly, right? Like I can find examples about a guy who flashed knives at a hospital, and one of the other patients says, I don’t know what was going through the gentleman’s mind. And you’re like, well, he had knives.

But the thing is, there’s the other gentleman, which is kind of the default word you use for somebody. It’s kind of like guy, although most cases you could say man. But again, you have people like Martha said, they’re performing. They’re on the spot. They’re talking to a reporter, right? They’re aware that their words are going to be heard and judged, and they’re looking for more elevated language to sound important.

Yeah, Beverly, what would you rather hear them say besides gentleman?

Man.

I’m with you.

Yeah.

Is that why it bothers you?

Well, I guess it really bothers me because the conduct that is in question just is not the conduct of a gentleman.

Exactly.

It’s not.

It’s just not. They have not earned it, right? And I’m sure that the term gentleman at one point had denoted a social status. But, you know, I don’t think it necessarily does that anymore. But it does, in my opinion, denote a conduct or a behavior of a certain higher level than what’s allegedly been done.

I don’t think you’re the only one that’s noticed this. And whether or not people are conscious of it or not, what you will often find when people mean the definitive gentleman that you’re talking about, the nice guys, they will add real or true in front of the word. They’ll say he was a real gentleman or he is a true gentleman. And this way they distinguish from the kind of throwaway gentleman word that just means guy or man or dude.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, and it does seem like it’s kind of become a generic term for a male person.

Right, exactly right. It’s called semantic bleaching where the original kind of very specific sense is kind of withered down or narrowed down or winnowed down into something basic.

So Beverly, you’re not alone.

Well, good. Thank you very much for your call. We really appreciate it.

Certainly.

Certainly.

Take care.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

What turn of phrase has caught your ear?

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