3.01.2006

Elephant Shoes

The Guardian Unlimited reports that Police are investigating claims by deaf football viewers who say that Liverpool full-back Steve Finnan made a racist comment to Manchester United player Patrice Evra in the recent league match where the 'pool lost 1-0. Myabe its my loyalty to an Irish and Liverpool player but I have to say I'm slightly skeptical about this for a couple of reasons:

1. Patrice Evra has made no complaint and does not back up the claims.
2. Liverpool FC went mental when this was suggested:
"The first either the club or the player knew about this matter was
through the media," a spokesman said. "There has been absolutely no contact from the Greater Manchester police. We have subsequently had a video of the match analysed by a lip-reader, who has told us there is nothing to support this
outrageous slur."
3. While I'm sure the deaf football viewers are expert lip-readers there must be a fair bit of room for discrepancies between what someone's lips appear to say and what they are actually saying.

To help validate point 3, here's a simple experiment. Say the phrase "Elephant Shoes" a couple of times to yourself out loud. If doing this in work, ignore the people looking at you like you're some kind of mentalist. Now find the nearest mirror and mouth the same phrase at different speeds and exaggerations of pronunciation. Looks like you're saying "I Love you" doesn't it? Again if in work, try mouthing the phrase to a colleague across the office. If he/she offers you a pair of Elephant Shoes then Finnan might just be guilty [allegedly - Hooped Lawyers]. If he/she offers you a punch/kiss/date then Finnan is probably innocent.