Jan 22, 2018 3 min read

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet bemoans the fact she is forbidden to wed Romeo Montague because his surname makes him an enemy of her family, the Capulets. “What’s in a name?” she muses. “That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”

It’s sound logic, and those who defend President Trump’s alleged use of “s–hole countries” to describe Haiti and nations in Africa by saying he actually said “s–house” would do well to adopt it.

Let me deflect accusations of political partisanship by admitting we have examples of presidents of both parties using language that would turn Emily Post’s cheeks crimson: Richard Nixon; Harry Truman. My problem is not so much with the words used but the Keystone Kop-like antics of those who rush to the president’s defense by saying that he may have used a different epithet.

Among the first to develop hazy memories of the meeting were Republican Sens. David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Each initially said he had not heard the president say what was first reported. Later, each changed his recollection to say Trump had used the second term – a theory offered by the White House – which neatly validated their denial.

Yet, crying “Semantics!” is not a very good defense. I say your kitchen smells like a privy. Later, I say that I actually said “outhouse.” Are you mollified?

On Tuesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen joined deniers in testimony before a Senate committee, saying, “I did not hear that word used.” She would not deny Trump had used a similar word or other crude language. All that was lacking in her testimony was Rudy Giuliani appearing in a puff of smoke to again remind us that “Men at times talk like that.” Locker room talk in the White House.

Some attempt to excuse the president’s frequent not-safe-for-work pronouncements by claiming he gives voice to what many Americans are thinking but are afraid to say. Perhaps, but here’s food for thought: A survey conducted in 2013 found 12 million Americans think a race of lizard people run the world. We wait with bated breath for the next White House press briefing. Whether we believe in intelligent design or evolution, we all must admit it should take longer than one year for the filter between human brain and mouth to have become extinct.

And one more point: Attempting to deflect charges that Trump’s language was racist, some pundits point out the terms he used are often applied to American towns. But context is everything. Whether your target is Third World countries or backwoods American hamlets, if they are populated primarily by people of color, the term suggests racism.

By the way, according to the World Health Organization, Norway – which Trump cited as an example of the type of country from which we should welcome immigrants – counts pit latrines among the type of sanitation facilities it approves. Semantics.

What’s in a name? A hole by any other name would smell as sour.