Christine Fair was having her viral moment when a clip of her calling U.S. President Donald Trump a “Chu****” made its way across social media, right after her live discussion with journalist Moeed Pirzada. The comment in the moment quickly went viral and made a big splash on social media – it literally was a firestorm of responses.
What Did the Video Show?
During the interview, Moeed Pirzada asked Fair a question about the U.S.-India relationship. Fair, responding, remarked, “The optimistic part of me would like to think the bureaucracy is going to hold it together, the pessimistic part of me would say this is six months and we got four years of this… of this… c**tiya.” The Hindi slang word essentially means an affront or disrespect, and it was worth noting that it drew laughter and surprise from the hosts and guests!
Social Media Explosion
Users of social media did not wait long to react to the clip of Christine Fair’s comment going viral. Prominent users reacted instantly after viewing Fair’s tirade; primarily, they found the use of the Hindi slang incredibly funny and, not to mention,n stark contrast to the norms of academia as they knew it. Others highlighted how outrageous her use of this casual language was in the video, as it came from a tenured and veteran academic known for her serious and substantive work. One quoted post said it best: “When academic decorum meets full desi lingo, the internet wasn’t going to stop talking.”
“US Academic labels Trump ‘Ctiya’” — HT Reports**
The Hindustan Times summarized the event succinctly: “US scholar Christine Fair used the particular word for Donald Trump, while speaking to Pakistani-origin Moeed Pirzada.” The assertion is descriptive and simply factual, and that is how the media treated it.
Significance
Christine Fair is a well-established political scientist with a research agenda centered on South Asian geopolitics and counterterrorism. The casual expletive that slipped into her public comments, and especially one from Hindi, is representative of how quickly informal language can become a story when it is contextualized in this fashion.
