AIBU to hate the word "freak"

[rastababi]

Local radio station this morning called people who can't see in 3D as "total freaks of nature" and if you could not see in 3D then you were "a freak". Yes it was tongue in cheek but I still found it vile.

YANBU - I hate it too.

No, if you hate it you hate it. May I ask why it's vile though?

I mean, if someone pulled a nasty-smell-up-yuor-nose face and called my kids "freaks", then I'd punch them be offended, but when I get called a freak for turning loo rolls so they hang down the back, I don't find it offensive, cos it's all in the meaning, you know?

When answering a thread on here the other day I called the OPs neighbour a freak, because he was. He was making inappropriate sexual remarks to the OP and constantly hassling her in her own home.

So I suppose in some circumstances YABU.

Yes I agree.

I have heard 'football fans' sing this word at Peter Crouch when he gets the ball which I think is just horrible.

Hecate, NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO, they have to hang down the front! Freak!

I understand what you mean HecateQueenOfWitches, I find it offensive full stop but particularly so when it's refered to someone being "different" in appearance, health matters, social reasons etc, rather that an action someone does (like you said, loo roll).

I find it vile because it makes my skin crawl!

I don't find freak offensive. Vile is a bit strong!

No Galena. The back. Don't argue with me. You are Wrong. If I admitted that I do it in other people's houses I would truly deserve the title Freak.

Doesn't bother me. The fact they were saying people who couldn't see in 3D are freaks is a bit

there are people who cant see life in 3D? you learn something new everyday!

i dont think its offensive personally, its used as a jokey word around here, [although i have been called a freak because of my dyed red hair in the street once ]

toilet roll ends hang down the front, or you risk them touching the wall and getting germy.

i take it the 3D non-seers have little or no depth perception, rather than they don't have a 3D telly?
if that's the case, then it is very rude and discriminatory to call them freaks.
in the same way that you wouldn't call a blind person a freak.

They get dragged along your arse, how much harm can touching the wall do?

And it's the BACK and I do wish people would stop arguing with me about it.

BritFish I see life in 2D. I'm crap at walking down stairs, I'm hopeless at pouring a drink into a glass, I have no sense of distance what so ever, the list is sadly endless!

An object could be 3 foot or 5 meters away and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I'm look straight at it

I don't mind it when used in a jokey manner. If someone does something gross or likes weird food combos they usually get called a freak as a laugh.

wow rastababi, that must be awful... and i suppose theres absolutely zero way to treat it as well

the word freak can be used literally and offensively, i think anyway. I spent quite alot of my teenage years beeing called a freak, serves me right for being myself in a very comformist school. but i use it jokingly with my friends when they do something weird or out of the ordinary. i think said in the right tone its fine but that radio show was out of line.

Words, essentially, cannot be intrinsically offensive... they only have the meaning and the power we impart into them

YANBU. But maybe there's nothing wrong with being a freak?

Thanks Nickelbabe - glad someone agrees with me!

I hate the word 'freak' because I am no longer even sure that I know what it means.
Why do the PussyCatDolls sing 'Doncha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?' Why do the Sugababes sing something similar? I suspect there is a new youth sub-meaning that I don't get which means it is just ANOTHER thing that makes me feel old and I don't need more of those. Frankly, I am all set.

Tis not the word that offends but how it is used. Any word can be used in a nasty or nice way by those so inclined.
I am freakishly clever, for instance .

i have no problem with the word

'the freaks decribed a group of kids at my school (the hippy/grunge types, as ...they used the word themselves and made it their own...there were also 'the plastics'...

Asa - I think in that context, "freak" means someone who'll do all kinds of sexual stuff. Very obliging. Very dirty!

HectateQueenofWitches - Thank you! Think if I call DH a freak it will make him LESS obliging but good to know.

oh I dunno "hey big boy, do freaky things to me"

Although in reality, he'd probably just look at you like or and then spend the rest of the night laughing his arse off!

Still, laughter brings a couple closer together.