To be upset at the use of this word?

[The4ks]

Was out shopping with dp today in the next town to ours.
Browsing charity shops as we like to do when in the middle of the shop a young woman and her friend are talking, well actually ranting very loudly for the whole shop to hear.
All about her neighbour and his son who's apparently in the 'mong' class.
Having a 4 year old autistic son ourselves we just shook our heads in disbelief and walked away before hearing anymore.
Dp agreed how upsetting it was to hear a poor child being described like that.
AIBU to be amazed and a bit scared that people still use words like this and the openness in which she did?

Inexcusable. How old was she?

That is atrocious !
Nobody regardless to their age should use words like that .

Mid to late 20s I guess. Mentioned having kids herself.
I just thought 'christ is there really still attitudes like this'

That’s shocking. I don’t think I’ve heard that word for twenty years.

I absolutely detest this word with a passion.

It's fucking horrible. No excuse whatsoever for using it. Age is definitely not an excuse.

It makes me so angry when I hear somebody use it. I actually want to punch them, but I'm not violent.

Someone I used to work with actually asked my daughter, who was about 7 at the time, what she was going to do on school holidays, was she just going to 'mong out'.

I was fuming and made sure I told him why.

I thought that term had long been forgotten.

I overheard a young man (early 20's)call someone a "Spaz" a few weeks ago and was so shocked. Another vile name that I'd hoped had died out with the 90s.

YANBU

what a vile person

Exactly. It's certainly not an acceptable word nowadays regardless of context

Did gervais use that vile word and then defend it?
Horrid that someone would ever use these vile terms

I think some poeple are a bit ignorant and don’t actually understand the meaning of the word and that it’s a derogatory term for a disabled person - I didn’t know this either until there was something in the press about Ricky Gervais using it and people complained - when I was a teen I’m sad to say it was quite a common word to hear and until I was in my early twenties I thought it was just a slang term for stupid. But the way it was used in this situation sounds very nasty, whether the word is understood or not.

One of my kids’ ex-friends told them I was uptight for not letting them call each other special (in a voice meant to mimic how they thought a person with learning difficulties may sound). She told them there’s nothing wrong with it, her and her Dad joke about it all the time.

The friendship ended when the kid started swearing at my dd, then aged 8, and denying it. My dd ended the friendship.

It was said nastily, meant to sound derogatory definitely.
An elderly person could perhaps be excused as ignorance to it having such a horrible meaning nowadays when it was acceptable to use in their day

Not only is this vile but who on earth are the 7% of Mumsnetters who think you are being unreasonable?!

Eugh i Hate this word too!!! Yanbu

People know full well what the underlying meaning means.

It is a derogatory word, purposefully used to insult someone's intelligence in a mean and nasty way.

That enough should be a reason not to use it.

“Mong” is short for “Mongloid” which is what the Victorians called people with Downs Syndrome. They thought their features mimicked that of the Mongloid Race (their name for Chinese ).

I agree it’s hard to hear people using slurs in public...you get this mixture of disbelief and anger.

I could class myself as elderly but never heard or indeed used this term. One of my Mum’s cousins had Downs and it was just accepted that he was special, and very loving, and when they visited none of us children would have commented in such a vile way. Utterly shocking. Beyond words.

I have family in South Africa and they occasionally have used the word ‘spaz’.

They get short shrift.

Agree it's awful OP. A colleague uses the word retard when she thinks someone's made a bad decision etc, I asked her not to use it and she said "oh I know but it's just us". I told her that I'm sensitive to the term and I don't think it's appropriate so I'd rather she didn't use it. She knows my son is autistic and needs a lot of extra help at school but apparently she still didn't think it was a problem

That’s terrible

My GOD that word has just made me cringe so hard, I haven't heard it in a couple of decades. What a hateful woman to use it - I agree, the worst thing is that they would do so in public and not even think twice. Fuck knows what they say in private. Ugh.

I have seen the word "cretin" used on here quite a bit. People don't seem to understand it's true meaning and think it means "stupid".
Oh the irony.

@noodlezoodle I was wondering the exact same thing. Absolutely shocking

That's just it, it was said casually like it's a normal word to use.
I'm annoyed with myself for not saying anything but was so taken aback and upset I just quickly walked away

someone i know split up with her dh, there was a ow, she told me 'the kids [aged 9 and 13] call him the retard and she's a slapper' i pulled her upon it, oh, she replied airly 'i call them that so the kids took it on board' wtf ?