Why Did The Southwest Airlines Pilot Call His Coworkers "Grandes"?

Everyone is talking about the douchie Southwest Airlines pilot who got caught talking highly offensive smack against his flight crews over air traffic control channels. His remarks were blatantly sexist, homophobic and ageist, but it's still not certain why he called some of them "grandes".

If you don't know the story, here's a recap: Anonymous (to the public) male, Southwest Airlines pilot, on a flight from Austin to San Diego back in March of 2011, accidentally had his mic on for the air control tower and all other pilots in the Texas air space to hear him as he ranted to his co-pilot about how all his flight attendants were "over-the-top, ass-fucking homosexuals and grannies." He goes on to say, "It was a continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes." He also calls two co-workers who did bother to hang out with him once after work "mopeds" which we learned on Urban Dictionary is an unattractive person you'd have sex with, but whom you wouldn't want your friends to "see you riding".

But what about the grande thing?  Sure everyone assumes he was referring to fat people. (Which, really, no airline attendants are what you'd call fat by American standards. They could never fit down the aisles.) But why did he choose the Spanish translation of large? Is it a Starbucks reference? If so, wouldn't he have called them Ventis since, technically, a Grande is a medium at Starbucks?

Here's our paranoid theory: He meant fat, Hispanic airline attendants. Can we add racist to his list of sins? One thing no one has brought up is that it isn't until he says "grandes" that the co-pilot interjects. The pilot pauses while the co-pilot is speaking, inaudible to the listener. Then the pilot responds, "I don't give a fuck. I hate 100% of THEIR asses." We'll never know what he meant by that unless someone who has experience with his slang vocabulary comes forward to tell us.

One thing's for sure. We can't wait to see what this guy looks like. (We're already pretty certain that he's not so "grande" himself, if you catch our drift.)

For now, Southwest Airlines has slapped him on the wrist, suspending him periodically without pay and forcing him to take diversity training. (He's already back at work, apparently.) But now the Southwest Airlines flight attendants' union is threatening a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines if they don't take more severe action. What do you think? Does this guy deserve to lose his job?

A lot of people say no, reasoning that he didn't intend for anyone but the person in the cockpit to hear his rant, adding that he's entitled to his opinion. So, assuming he wasn't offending the co-pilot which would be a case of workplace harassment, we say whoever is in charge of deciding his fate at the company has a right to their opinion, too. If they can't sleep at night knowing they're contributing to the welfare of a douche nozzle, they should fire him on the spot and take a well-earned nap.