My grandad today asked if my almost 2yo is 'dumb' -

[GunpowderGelatine]

My son, who is 22 months old, doesn't say very much. Mummy, daddy, doggy, bye, hiya, etc. He tries with other words like "outside" but just says 'side' or 'tairs' when he means 'downstairs'. I'm not concerned, his sister was pretty much having conversations at this age but I know it's senseless comparing the two of them. DS is very alert, engages really well and takes an interest in most things and people around him.

My grandad, who is 84, asked me today if he was saying much. I was honest and said no but he's getting there. Then he said "Be honest with me now, is he...dumb?" (He has to think about how to phrase the last word).

WTAF. I said no and don't ever call him anything like that again. He thinks I'm being sensitive and that I need to take him to the doctor. AIBU to be upset or am I being defensive?

I'm glad you're parents and grandparents are more politically correct than mine !! . My mum has never worked with children and gets things wrong . I have corrected her , she forgets but still gets corrected . She adores my son who presents in a similar way to a child with Down syndrome so it's not that she is being horrible , she is just very set in her ways .
I'm certainly not saying any of it is right but purely explaining things were very very different when they were young .

Indeed there was but the British Deaf and Dumb Association dropped the word ‘dumb’ from there name in 1971! ... by which time the OP's grandad was 37.

He’s 84 for fucks sake give him some leeway

It’s not even about that, he hasn’t said or done anything wrong!

How about

he’s using a well established word correctly for fucks sake, give him all the leeway 😂

"in British English dumb for mute is correct albeit now redundant"

No, it's not redundant. Still in use as others have said.

^How about

he’s using a well established word correctly for fucks sake, give him all the leeway 😂^

Except he’s not, is he? OP’s DS is talking albeit with limited vocabulary and mispronouncing some words, which is understandable seeing he is not even 2 yet!

CecilyP your point would be correct if the grandfather had stayed ‘OP’s son is dumb’

But he didn’t. He asked whether he was:

’Be honest with me now, is he...dumb?’

He used it perfectly correctly.

*stated, obviously. Read the OP.

The way he asked implies that he thought the answer was, ‘yes’, and that OP was just not facing facts. It really is a very odd thing to ask about a 22 month old.

He just used the wrong term. And I don't think an 84 year old man is going to be up.to date with the normal developmental age range of babies and children. I'd just forget he said it and move on

I agree he’s 84 he’s not up to date with child development- I would dismiss what he said