How do we educate people with regards to appropriate use of words?

[lou33]

I'm getting more and more depressed at the use of inappropriate words , mainly in this country, but i hear a lot coming from the states as well through films.

Specifically this morning I am talking of the word "spaz", it's used in popbitch today allegedly used by people at brooklyn beckham's old school, but in fact there are many terms i find equally offensive and unnecessary.

Is there anyone out there who can explain to me why it is funny to take the pi*s out of people for things they have no chice about, like disabilities and skin colour?

I know background and education have a big part to play, but i come from the sort of upbringing that you could theorise would make me more likely to use these awful negative terms, yet i just knew they were wrong , even as a child.

It makes me both sad and angry that i still read, see, hear this all around me (and yes i do take people to task over it, and yes i do hear the word spaz used a lot)

How can this be changed, or do you think it can't?

dont think anyone was saying that ff, people are just trying to show how there is a difference between chav and the other terms

I find it offensive when people use the words "spaz" and "mong" and "joey", also when people do that putting their tongue down their gum thing to illustrate perceived stupidity...it's just thoughtless and offensive IMO.

I have a friend who calls people "Pakis" when I took her to task she just said..."Well thats what they are, aren't they?" She says it in front of her 2.5 year old daughter.........

Start with your children and educate them well

Avoid "reclaiming" offensive terms as it muddies the waters

FF - my post want aimed at you I only read a couple of the first posts on the thread

FF turn your puter off

bloody hell i just wanted a prper debate, not a huge fucking row

will get this deleted and not start any more serious threads aagin

why get it deleted, it is here, it has been said, cant erase it from your memory

No my circle of friends do not call people half cast cunts, we are not racist.

My colleague called someone a spaz the other day and I did 'tell him off' so then he asked if calling them a scopey (from the new name of the charity Scope) was OK!!

I agree that you have to say when you find things unacceptable. I haven't heard anyone tell a racist joke for ages but I have challenged people in the past for it.

I think Chav is a different thing altogether as they are choosing to be that way on the whole.

I hate things like spaz, paki, chinky and all those names but also agree that slagging people off for being fat etc is out of order and I don't let my dds do anything like that.

Message withdrawn

Hang on Lou, you can't get a thread deleted just because you don't like the way it's going!

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I thnk it's understandable that you're upset, Lou..the thing is, such terms are used by people without them realising or even thinking about what it actually means...once people do, I would hope that they would then stop.

blatant hijack, but CD r u busy atm?

rnb whatever you think i use, believe it, you have already decided i am a biggot so just let your imagination get the better of you, you can pretend i spit at people in wheelchairs if you like, whatever it is, think the worst of me and roll with it

your own threads i think you can cd

Post a link to the PopBitch bit and we'll all harangue them.

It's one thing for ignorant individuals to use them in conversation but quite another to publish them on a website viewd by (I assume) thousands. Both wrong though.

Message withdrawn

i do not think it is ok to call people like your son etc that, I am saying quite clearly people use these words in other forms without actually aiming it at people with disabilities. I am saying it is fashoinable ( right or wrong ) to use these words in other circumstances. Not to single out s.n people or hurt or bully them . The ones who aim it to hurt are wrong, But a huge proportion of society just use it as a throwaway comment. This is highlighted with the fact it is in popbitch. It is not to hurt, slag off or destroy your children.

and i am appalled by the accusations i have recieved so maybe i am not the only one who should FFS calm down

Popbitch was quoting a parent (not an excuse)
See here
At Brooklyn Beckham's old Hertfordshire school, there
was a new award at this year's sports day. The
Brooklyn Beckham Cup for 'The child who tries the Hardest' ("i.e. the spaz", says a school parent.)
These derivatives come from labels that were previously bandied around by medical professionals, the old style labels like Spastic, retarded etc
When I was 6 in NZ (I am now 34) there was a family who adopted a child who was described as mongoloid and spastic.
I never heard the term spaz used against this boy, but some children used it against children who were having what we would now term a "blonde moment" usually boys, usually on the sportsfield.
I have not heard either term for decades, I have do not even know what mong means or refers to either.

I think it is very easy to be inflamed about this when you have a child who may be hurt by such a name in the future.
Kids are cruel a lot of the time, heaven knows my son always got the tried hardest (but was generally useless on the field) sports trophy, but he excels academically, he has been called all sorts of names like unco (for uncoordinated) divvy....
He takes these personally although he now is mature enough to see beyond it.
I think I understand what FF is trying to say, that when people say it, it is without any knowledge of the hurt that could follow it's use.

which is whay i started the thread, asking how do we educate the people who think it's ok.

The problem is that spaz, mong, mental are treated as throw away comments.

My son was called "mental" by another child at school. I'm sure to this child it was a throwaway comment that in his family is ok to use. What he did not know is that my son is autistic and that I am very offended by his casual use.

These are not words to be bandied around without thought.

well to highlight my point look at this and note how many thread titles are nothing to do with menatl health> People are using these words without aiming them to hurt. I also am adamant you will all use words that would and could hurt others, none of us are protected from it.