The Argentine Academy of Letters issued a statement on Tuesday on the situation facing Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani in England, where he is accused by The Football Association (FA) of having committed a racist act after answering with a ‘Thank you, bold!’ to a friend of yours on your account Instagram.
The statement, signed by the vice president of the Argentine institution, José Luis Moure, stands out: “Any user of our language in this part of the world understands that this word, used in the context that has given rise to the punitive measure, possesses a clear affective meaning, completely free from any discriminatory or racist nuance.”
As indicated by the newspaper the Nation, This Academy of Letters has added in its statement that this accusation is clear ‘Ignorance of the meaning given to this expression by speakers of Argentina and other dialectal regions of South America’. And he demanded ‘The presentation of the corresponding excuses for having affected Cavani’s good name in an unfounded way’.
Besides, it was mentioned that the term ‘bold’ is found in the Dictionary of the Language of Argentina, where it is highlighted that its use denotes a trust in the link and is used to call, call attention or direct the word by substituting the first name ‘.
And he remarked: “The affective meaning of the word ‘black’ is” intensified in Cavani’s occupation by the use of the diminutive form, a mechanism present in many languages to connote this feeling. “
The FA will announce its sanction on Tuesday 5 January.
It should be noted that the support of the Argentine Academies of Letters is not the first that Cavani receives after this accusation of racism became known. This past Sunday Andreas Beck Holm, a professor at the Danish University of Aarhus, wrote: “While the words Cavani used are not racist, the decision to impute it is. Specifically, it is a case of cultural racism that is closely connected with ethnocentrism.”