moronic colleague

[zara020]

My colleague is an odd one at the best of times but she's just called me 'a bit rude' for not blessing her when she sneezed. Yeah... sorry about that. WIBU? (I know the answer) is anyone else expected to work under these conditions!?

It's not universally good manners to say bless you at all. It's a relative thing .

If she tells you off about it again, tell her that it is currently recognised as offensive to draw attention to bodily noises. However, if she wants you to acknowledge her in future every time she sniffs, coughs, burps or farts you will be happy to do so.

Yes cretin is "offensive" but I use it. As long as I'm describing a person I believe to be able bodied and not suffering from what used to be called cretinism I can't see anyone being offended.
Joey? Never heard of a Joey, I've heard of a Benny?

I find that dick splash and nob rot are effective at demonstrating displeasure op, both of which are offensive precisely because they're supposed to be. Moron is equally effective precisely because it is offensive, although I personally would prefer to be called a moron than someone lobbing the 'c' bomb casually in my direction. Either way, your colleague sounds a bit bizarre.

DeafSpacker made me

Um. I know this type of person. Annoying-yoghurt-scraping-pot-woman used to say bless you every time I (and anybody else) sneezed which kind of made it obligatory to do it in return. Wish I hadn't bloody started.

Winter was interesting!

Joey Deacon.

Two dogs you beat me to it

If someone said that to me, I'd say 'are you serious', then, 'get a grip', sometimes I think of these thing to say after the event, which is very annoying.

Just to add IMO cu*t is way more offensive than moron, I hate the word.

I agree with most of what sticklebricker wrote. For me it's whether the word is commonly associated with learning difficulties or just with average folk doing something stupid.

The really stupid argument is 'I don't use moron/cretin/retard towards someone with a disability - I would only use it if the person is clearly able bodied but just being stupid'

What a pile of shite. The point is that if in looking for an insult you chose a word which in your head represents a learning disability then of course that's insulting!
Anything you throw at someone in order to be abusive is obviously going to be offensive if the word is meant to recognisably representative of a group of people.

And there is nothing wrong with cunt. No worse than dick or knob.

In Welsh moron means carrot. Not relevant in the slightest but hey ho.

I guess there are some terms that are obviously being disparaging about disabled people (retard, spaz, that sort of thing) but other insults like idiot or moron seem to have lost their connection with their original meaning over time and now are more synonymous with someone who has done something stupid.

I'd be really offended at someone using retard to insult a poster and definitely report them but I'm not sure I'd do the same with moron.

Your colleague op is being massively over sensitive and I'd be irritated too.

She sounds a bit up herself, I would of just given her a dirty look and got back to what I was doing.

thanks purpledaisies
from now on i will avoid this whole minefield by calling people annoying carrots
i will branch out and save sprouts for people showing up for darwinism awards

wooly

I knew that they were obsolete medical terms, but I thought moron was special. I may have got this wrong but I think I read an example of moronic logic to be, 'dogs are animals, and cats are animals. Therefore dogs are cats.'

Your colleague sounds very annoying op. You are going to feel bad now, if she wakes up tomorrow dead from bubonic plague.

A colleague says 'bless me' everytime she sneezes. Don't know whether she's on auto pilot / it's a pavlovian response to hearing a sneeze, or whether like OP's colleague she is chiding us for (perceived) rudeness...

I was brought up to do that Aridane and still do. I thought it was good manners to say bless me if you sneeze and bless you is someone else sneezes?

Pagwatch, you say there's no difference between cut, knob and dick, well, I know women use cut but I'd say it's mostly used as a derogatory term used by men about women, whereas knob and dick is used by both.

I prefer pleb to moron.

The colleague sounds a bit irritating. I feel lucky - mine are all mad as cats, but lovely. Certainly not morons. I wonder how they put up with me (utter pleb).

I've really enjoyed this thread

Hang on..... Pleb??????!! That's got to be offensive to someone on here.

DH worked with a woman he referred to as 'no bless you lady'. It used to drive him to distraction! I still don't know what her real name was.

Vulcanwoman

I think the idea that cunt is the most offensive thing you can call someone is a terrible thing.
I would prefer to use it so it ceases to seem so powerful in the mouths of aggressive men .
Saying 'but only men use it' makes me want to use it more tbh.

I don't think you're supposed to bless yourself.. I think it's just 'excuse me'!

Thanks for that, FurtherSupport - I didn't realise that, just thought maybe my colleague was being a bit strange or passive aggressive (rather than well brought up)!