For being a bit bored and slightly irritated by people constantly being offended by a word!!

[xlr8]

Why is it that a word used by someone from a different..part of the country, upbringing , culture , education or decade offends so many people? Why do we all make such a big deal about not liking a word that someone has used to describe something?
What ever happened to sticks and stones????????

my dp has epilepsy and watches eastenders all the time, so am sure if he found it offensive he would have said something to me about it.

personally its not something that i would say but i have never heard it before reading this op.

also arent most words, excluding words like ngger, spzz etc only offensive because of the meaning that is placed on them by others who think that they may offend certain groups of people. i.e. epi, dp often tells me 'there is no need to have a fit about it' he has never said epi but then as i said earlier its not something that i have heard before.

also the word gay is used here a lot as 'thats so gay' not in a nasty way its a phrase that people use. i use myself sometimes, although i dont mean to, its just part of our slang and easy to pick up without realising the connotations and isnt intentionally aimed at anyone. my sister recently said it at her workplace infront of her gay best friend realising what she said she apologised and said 'i shouldnt that it might offend some people' some one who is not gay or lesbian said 'yes you are right it will' very sternly to her, her gay bestfriend replied 'why, that was gay'

my friend who is black once told me that he has no idea wether he is meant to be black, coloured etc. he found coloured the most offensive as he is not coloured he is black as far he is concerned he is more offended that people are making such a fuss about what term they should use to describe his skin colour.

imo words only become offensive when people start making a huge fuss about them.

Non-white, doublethink, ungood, double plus good, non person ..

yes 2shoes - your ds post came over very well. Boco did mention it. He obviously should make you very proud.

How far do you go when you start to censor language, haven't you read George Orwells 1984?

so you are using a book to back up your arguement. a book filled with just words. and a fictional book at that.

The point has been made numerous times that abusive behaviour and rudeness is the real issue not the language. It's perfectly ok for a doctor to refer to a patient as a spastic. It's the connotations that are the issue and the association.

It's perfectly ok for a doctor to refer to a patient as a spastic

no it is not.
I have yet to meet a "spastic"
my dd has athetoid cerebral palsy with ataxic tendencies(sp)
she has a freind who has athetoid cerebral palsy with spastic tendencies.

it is unsual fo some one just to have spastic cerable palsey so very unlikely that a doctor would ever call them a spastic.

An accurate prediction of how things can go in a state controlled society. I guess the political insight and social commentary passed you by.

I'd be stunned to find a doctor using the word spastic unless he/she using it as part of a longer description such as spastic diplegia.

Likewise a doctor could refer to my son as retarded, but if they referred to him as 'a retard' then they'd find a letter of complaint winging its way to them.

Why do the norms so want to defend the use of offensive terms? Aha yes Freedom of Speech. Although as riven said earlier- freedom comes with responsibilities.

I don't think people are particularly touchy on mnet- it's just - to borrow something said by someone else - the place seems to be full of twats these days.

The point is if it was a medical condition it's perfectly fine to use the term. It's just a word which is meaningless without an associated meaning.

rebelmum1 please could you enlighten me as to how you are a expert on cerebral palsy??

Not going to get into the argument on this thread got to cook dinner. Black, disabled DH, Ds with SN, mixed race kids you can probably guess what I think

Someone asked about the term JOEY. Joey was a man with learning difficulties and cerebal palsy who lived in a hospital in Caterham. Blue peter did an appeal to pay for self contained chalets for residents to live in instead of in the old asylum.

Joey became an insulting term and was accompanied by much waving of arms and pulling of faces i.e 'you fecking stupid Joey'.

Nice huh? How could an innocent word like Joey possibly upset anyone. Well like that it could.

Oh by the way. The NHS shut down the hospital and sold off all the land including the lovely new chalets paid for by our pennies.

yes but 'spastic' is not a medical term - not to describe a person with a condition - it refers to a high degree of muscle tightness.

oh no sorry couldnt let this one go. It bloody isnt ok for a doctor to refer to someone as a spastic! As it isnt for a nurse to refer to someone as a luekemic or a midwife to refer to the mongol baby.

They might say it but it bloody isnt ok! Fecks sake. Why do people want the freedom to say words that upset, annoy people? Ok you actually do have the freedom to say them but you have to deal with the consequences and if that means people getting pissed off with you tough.

So perhaps - if you're going to use the 'but it's a medical term and therefore I can use it if I want' excuse you need to find out how these words are used medically first.

Even the journal of mental retardation has changed its name now though. Reflecting a change in society I would guess.

Exactly chegirl.

exactly jimjams

xlr8 if you had a problem with me being offended then you should have come on that thread and discussed it. Then maybe I could have told you why I am offended by the word epi. My dd3s mri results, which we got a couple of weeks ago, showed her brain has not formed properly and she has a very high risk of getting epilepsy, in fact they were quite surprised she'd made it this far without any siezures. My dd3 has many problems and stands a good chance of not being able to defend herself against any of this offensive shit in the future. Maybe as an epilepsy sufferer yourself you could have come on the sn board and told us who have children with this, or at risk from developing this condition that there is actually an up side to it, because I could bloody well do with that at the moment. I'm sorry if you think I am being overly sensitive, but may be you can appreciate where I am coming from now.

Green, I am NOT xlr8 - why on earth would I change my name when I've made several posts on this thread giving my views?

Am rather pissed off to be accuse of namechanging, tbh.