How bad a word is cretin?

[TroublesomeLuck]

Our headteacher has recently done an interview for the school magazine where he has called Gavin Williamson "a cretin". Now I'm no fan of Gavin's. But am I right in thinking that's a terrible word for someone to be using?

Absolutely agree with this. The current Oxford dictionary definition for cretin is 'a stupid person'. I don't think anyone using the word these days would know it used to be associated with a thyroid condition

I had no idea about the derivation of the word cretin or that it was offence. I truly thought it was like calling someone a muppet, as in incompetent and not fit for purpose.

Seems that nincompoop might be derived from 'non compos mentis', that is insane. So that's no go too. Everything is ableist, even if it refers to stupidity, as arguably stupidity is something one can't help. All part of the nature-nurture Lottery.
I said arguably.

Very offensive. It is an old term for those with learning disabilities due to congenital hypothyroidism

It would seem so. I dread to think what the world will be like in ten or 20 years.

My history teacher at school used to call us cretins regularly. No way he’d get away with that now.

Not allowed to use stupid either
ischemgeek.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/the-case-against-stupid/
It's ableist as well

Seems that nincompoop might be derived from 'non compos mentis'

There's no evidence for that, and the OED disagrees with the theory.

Yes I understand it was just an idea floated regarding its etymology. But the issues over calling someone 'stupid' remain.

The term to me is very 70s and 80s and was used to mean idiot and I do not associate it nowadays to mean wanker or dickhead it is totally different - no way would I use it now - lots of words I remember from the 80s that are not ok now.

I knew a French woman whose surname was Cretin. She said that it signified someone from 'crets' or someone from an area of peaks. Nice lady, by the way.

Not very catchy though. We do need words that encapsulate our frustration with people's behaviour.

Me too. We must have had the same biology textbook. And that picture is the reason I wouldn't use the word.

I do appreciate that a lot of people won't know what it means though. So while I'd be disturbed to hear it used, I wouldn't condemn the person in the way I would someone who used spastic or retard.

I didn’t know that, also have an under active thyroid. I tell my children not to call people idiots but I didn’t know there was also a medical context for that, all insults have to have an origin somewhere I suppose.

I was unaware of the medical use, and have used this word for years, for me it means someone who is nasty and spiteful. I'd say that is it's most accepted definition, although hearing the original makes me less inclined to use it. I also wouldn't immediately assume someone to be aware of the medical definition. I would have seen it as a quite diacritics word, instead of being immediately offended.

It’s hardly compelling though.

Whether or not you want to use certain terms they have more impact than ‘he lacks judgement’ which is very meh.

I think it's a circular argument. The reason I don't use that word is because I do know it's derivation.
As a pp said. I wouldn't judge someone as harshly for using it as I would some of the other words, but I'd never use it myself. I don't like stupid or idiot either - but would happily use twonk, prat, wankbadger etc.

That's kind of where the word originates from - a large number of people who had the condition were discovered by scientists doing research in the Alps.

They eventually discovered it was caused by a lack of iodine in their food. Once they discovered this link they started putting iodine in the water and in other areas where the condition was apparent and now it's been virtually wiped out. It can also be caused by a lack of thyroid.

But the actual word is thought to derive from the
word used in the french alps for Christian "Chretien". The thinking is people with the condition were know as "poor Christian's".

Wankbadger is way more offensive. Nearly as twee as cockwomble. 🤮

Yes it used to be used as a medical term which then turned to an insult. The same as spastic. The term cretinism isn't used anymore by medics though.

Some of us have hypothyroidism from birth or have family members who have had to be treated from birth to prevent the disabilities it causes. It may well be offensive to those people, it is to me. Being told your new born baby is going to be medicated for life or will suffer cretinism isn't historical.

My DD needed thyroxine from birth and no one ever used the word “cretinism”. We were just told there could be a developmental impact if she didn’t receive the medication.

A head teacher, in an interview, should be critiquing the policies, not levelling personal insults, IMO.

My ds was born with congenital hypothyroidism so I have been aware of the word cretin since we were informed when he was 10 days old. When you research the condition you are faced with images of untreated children. Seeing these images of what he would have looked like, & knowing how it would have affected him developmentally had the heel prick test not been around, will never leave me. Nobody needs to use this word about anyone.

It would be unacceptable to say this in my sector. I work with young adults with LD. most of us know cretinism was caused by iodine deficiency. It has died out due to supplementation but the logic of the insult is people are inferior if they have learning disability due to malnutrition. Cretinism still occurs in some countries.

If you would not say spastic, mongoloid, retard etc, all used as medical terms for disability in the recent past then cretin is also just a medical term for disability still occurring relatively frequently until post WW2 when maternal.access to iodine enriched bread and dairy pretty much eliminated it. It still occurred in rural Europe where people were less likely to eat fortified foods until much later.

Also Gavin Williamson isn't a cretin. Someone with cretinism may have reduced learning ability but can make all the same choices about how to treat others as anyone else. I would complain that Williamson is a known bully and liar who chooses to be an arsehole and the comparison is offensive to people with LD.

People with sensitive arseholes may now complain about this post.