Well I have been put right off Jen.

[shimmerysilverglitter]

here.

Nice one Jen.

Bet Angelina floating on air.

But seriously how ignorant has she made herself look? Put right off her now. I think you definitely have to think a certain way to use that word as casually as that.

State means to set forth in words. Nothing more, nothing less.

I am aware it is your opinion, doesn't mean I can't challenge it.

And I have no feelings about J Aniston either way, I know very little about her. I neither said she was lovely nor terrible. I said that altering your entire opinion of somebody according to what could very well be an innocent mistake is a little short sighted.

Ineedmorechocolate, you have just confirmed what others are saying. In America it was a ridiculously prevalent term and still is though more casually than it once was. I have a couple of American friends that have lived here for the last 3 years and they were utterly shocked by how offensive it is seen as here. They thought it was interchangeable with geeky.

And I deal with SN every single day of my life. I want to see the back of the word as much as you. I just wish the media could use something like this to educate as opposed to churning out the hyperbolic and emotive headlines directed at a single person who for all we know made an innocent mistake.

'tis true that 'retard' is used much in the same way as we'd say 'idiot' in the UK.

I didn't mean to defend what she said earlier, I totally agree she shouldn't have said it! I think though that words can carry different weights in different countries.

I didn't think about the PR teams giving her media training. Never thought about that at all tbh, I was just imagining the prejudices and misconceptions I mgiht still have I didn't have children (one of them has autism).

I agree with libertyGibbet, what I would take from this is that the wider population (without children of their own, without personal experience of the subject that makes the word sensitive) haven't totally received the message yet that is unacceptable. Obviously that same paragraph could stand for lots of words.

i was murdered on another forum recently because I lightheartedly suggested that an IT team who would man a forum over the weekend might be staffed at least partially by people on the spectrum. It seemed quite matter of fact to me, I think that some autistic adults who have made it in to the work place find computers and how they work SO much easier to understand than the average punter! I really didn't mean to offend anybody and I know that my heart isn't 'filled with the language of hatred'!! but I did upset a lot of people. Which upset me tbh.

Language is organic ...... what one group knows instinctively to be outdated and potentially hurtful hasn't yet necessarily become fact absolute in the general population. There is that gap of about 10 - 20 years I think.

Obviously I should have said 'person the forum'. Can't believe I said man the forum. very carelessly and casually sexist of me.

I think thias is a huge fuss over nothing.

Her character in Friends once said that she was 'a laundry spazz'. It was in the script. Not sure if the writers got such a drubbing for it at the time but language changes and people say stuff they may not even think could be offensive. So long as they educate themselves about why they shouldn't be saying it and they don't repeat them over and over, then I think you should forgive these kinds of phrases.

You know what I hate in American tv shows, and it is used in all of them. Illegitimate!

I have heard it on desperate housewives to refer disparagingly to lynette's husbands daughter Kayla, have heard it on The O.C, to refer to Caleb Nicholl's daughter Lindsay.. I've heard it plenty of other times too. It is obviously considered a perfectly reasonable thing to say on American tv. But they wouldn't say damn or crap in case that caused offence. the term illegitimate was removed from the Irish constitution about 15 years ago in recognition of the fact that it is disparaging. Luckily it's not something you hear on UK tv, ever.

laundry spazz

should we censor everything from thepast?

Not if you don't know the etymology of the term spazz and live in a culture where it is regularly used to mean 'clutz' or 'clumsy'.

Of course when you know the derivation of the word you find it offensive but when it's part of a shared vernacular and you've never given it a second though, you cannot be held accountable in the same way. Of course if you continue to use it once you do know, then you deserve all of the scorn and vitriol heaped upon you.

This is why efforts should be directed into education as opposed to pouring scorn on the potentially unwitting users of a word.

DD likes Monsters Inc for example. It has the word cretin in it. Which is used the same way in America to the extent that Pixar has it in a children's animation. There is a long way to go.

Here...

Where is it, you little one-eyed cretin?! Mike: Okay, first of all, it's "cretin". If you're gonna threaten me, do it properly. Second of all, you're nuts ...

V offensive isn't it? To people with congenital hypothyroidism or those who are mentally ill.

Except can Pixar be held accountable if they don't know the origins of the words? Is there any point me directing futile anger at the film and the studio or would I be better placed educating them and others about why these words shouldn't be used?

No doubt in my mind that it was both used and received derogatorily.
The R-word is vile whether directed at one's self or others, no matter any age.

Agree Mumi. Hear the tone she said it in? Horrible.

Agree with every word you have said Riven.

Libertygibbet, I noticed that! not only was the word Cretin in monster inc, but they made a deal out of how it was pronounced!

... but instead of getting cross with the one person you heard utter the word, I think it is the social climate that allows it that one nedds to be 'cross' with and challenged.

Riven, thanks so much for posting that speech. Very moving.