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[Tyrone Slothrop]

Unfogged defends Riordan (without calling anyone a racist):

You can thank me later for not being an analytic philosopher and writing a two-thousand word post about this. Yes, Dick Riordan told a little girl her name meant "stupid, dirty girl," but he didn't call her that. He did what adults often do when they're joking with children: give them an outlandishly false answer to a question, have them say, "noooooo" (which they seem to rather enjoy), and then take them seriously when they correct you. Given that the girl was asking him if he knew what her name meant, Riordan's answer, which was, "It means stupid, dirty girl," is best understood to say, "Does it mean stupid, dirty girl?

Now, that's not a funny joke, but it is a joke, and Riordan goes on to feign interest in her answer and give her affirmation, etc. etc., and all this before the press jumped on him. Give the guy a break already.