What would you do if your manager used this word?

[Shimmyshine193]

If they referred to someone, indirectly as a m*ng?

Im.not easily offended but as the mother of a severely autistic, child with severe learning disabilities,this does offend me very much.

I’m an early 90s baby and I had no idea what the word was meant to be until I read the comments. I’d never heard the relation to down syndrome either!

Totally unacceptable.
Inappropriate enough as workplace "banter", but 100x worse from a manager. Call it out if it happens again.

It was a,playground insult when I was at school.But im 51_and I hope it's largely died out
Another insult was to be a "Joey"
This was because a Blue Peter featured a disabled man called Joey Deacon ,whose speech was largely unintelligible,and he had quite distinct hand movements
For a short time kids up.And Down the Uk,then used "Joey" as an insult to.imply someone was " slow"

There is an area local to me that some people use that term as a play on words for that area. So it’s used as local slang, not heard it for a while though.

I think "When does a word become detached from its origin?" was a decent question.

Case in point: idiot was at one time a medical diagnosis of extremely low IQ.

I assume you weren't intending to ridicule learning-disabled people by your use of the term?

I would check first that your manager knows the actual meaning of the word as a friend of mine genuinely didn't know and when he used it and someone told him he was horrified.

It might be extreme but I stopped using idiot when I discovered this some years ago and I really hate the word cretin - I was shouted at by someone in my first job for refusing to pass on a message with that word. I don't judge/challenge other people for using idiot, but I do for most other ableist language.

if my manager used my word i would be disgusted and report them

I'd be straight to HR. Absolutely disgusting word. As a PP said, I don't care about swearing etc but racist, homophobic, disability, sexist language is never acceptable.

Straight to HR for me.

Hmm. I agree it's an offensive word but unless you are frightened of your manager you're best trying to address this yourself in the first instance. Rushing straight to the lanyard brigade is sometimes not the best solution. If successful you'll get an immediate change in her/his behaviour and you will have cultivated respect from your colleagues.

I bet loads of the posters on this thread are really unpopular at work.

I am not a fan of policing language so I’d never try to get someone in trouble for how they speak. I truly value free speech. I’d deflect it by saying “we are all m*ngs here, arent we!”

Where do you work. I can’t think of any working environment where this is ok.

I remember Joey too.

I put Joey, retard and mong in the same category - not acceptable, would be v cross if dd said it and wouldn't stand by someone at work using it without saying something.

I'd probably say 'why do you all keep referring to negative language around Down's Syndrome'.....
See if the penny drops. If you're met with blank responses then explain the history of the word.
Sometimes the explanation hits harder than just saying 'don't say that'.

My mother horrified her younger relatives recently referring to The Spastic Society. She was taken aback by their horror.

The problem is, those of us who know and don’t use these terms find them abhorrent. The groups who do use them tend not to know the connection and don’t actually see it as a connection. It’s just a random sound picked up from other people to use in specific situations. Like ‘prat’. Who knows what that is?!

I was in high school in the 90s and it was used a lot, but I'll be honest, I only found out about the down syndrome link to the word last week.

This was because my kids had been hearing it a lot in school (high school) and asked what it meant and my husband explained. I swear I had no idea! I thought it was describe someone who was stupid and lacked common sense. So glad I've not used the word myself!

So, it's entirely possible your boss doesn't know the origin of the word (I'm 44 and just finding out) so a polite word with them is surely the best way to approach this.

If my manager used that word I would assume them to be a right cretin.

Younger kids may not know of the origins but my Autistic, stimming yp, (now 20) has been called: 'mong', 'spaz', 'flid', and 'retard' in his time ('Joey' has disappeared)
Kids are hearing it from somewhere and there are not enough adults stamping it out. It's really NOT okay. Disablism, racism, misogyny, homophobia - all wrong.

I leave my house plenty, and I've been a secondary school teacher for decades. I don't think I've heard that word since the 80s. It's not that teenagers are above using offensive words (obviously). I just doubt they've even heard if it - it sounds very old-fashioned (as well as offensive).

I use to work in a place where the manager used this word a lot. They were the same age as me and knew exactly what it meant. When new people started like apprenticeships etc they would be like oh i just want a m* that can pick a order or open a box etc. That was the last straw for me and i left.
Totally unacceptable.
If your boss has the initials ML then you have my condolences !

I deleted an old school friend form Facebook for this. I was appalled that she used it. I would definitely go to HR about that, It is completely inappropriate anywhere, nevermind a workplace.

Ming? Mung? Mang?Mong? What word do you mean?
They all mean something.

Thanks @RobertaFirmino I didn't know what they were talking about. I went through every vowel and it made no sense. I've never heard that word ever!!