will sticks and stones break our bones???

[2shoes]

ok yes this is sort of a thread about a thread, I have pinched the subject.

we all know there are some words that are offensive like mong, spazz and retard.
I am always suprised by the way people guard their right to use these words and others, and say oh pc gone mad.
Now it seems we can't use words like idiot!!
so I wondered if we could talk about it in the safety of the sn topic.

what words do you deem a no no, and what ones do you reckon are just jumping on the bandwagon...

spanner?? imo no connection to spastic and just the name of a toool

I hate "wrong" ... that's how my sons SENCO once described him

Think my main 3 i dislike are same as yours,though dont like when ds was descibed as broken

think words like ,idiot hell I use all the time but case of context when and how ..

I did see that thread 2shoes, and my honest opinion is that any word which starts out as medical terminology and ends up used as an insult is derogatory.

I've been wiki'ing spastic (I know, I know .. don't say it!) and the entry is very interesting.

It suggests that while 'spastic' is the second most offensive insult to a British ear ('retard' is top), in America 'spaz' and 'spastic' are considered inoffensive words referring to unco-ordinated or geeky people - a bit more like what you understand by 'spanner'.

Look up idiot in your dictionary. It's not so bad. It originally meant an unskilled person and only recently came to be synonymous with extreme foolishness.

There are far worse things you could be called. But perhaps rather than arguing about which insults are ok andwhich not, we could all just try and live our lives without any kind of name-calling at all?

Just a thought.

I don't have an issue with "idiot" or "stupid" because I tend to think of it as describing the behaviour not the person, ie if someone is not using the sense they have then they are being an idiot. It wouldn't occur to me to call someone with a low IQ an "idiot" - not being PC, just wouldn't be a thing I would say.

Obviously not happy with mong, spaz, retard. Because these are saying "you are so contemptible that you are like someone with x condition" ie assuming that someone with that condition is lesser and inherently worthy of contempt. So imo that is different in kind to calling someone "stupid".

I'm not happy with the phrase "having an eppy fit" because seizures aren't particularly funny in our house. Though when people say just "I'd have a fit if he did that to me" or whatever, they don't generally have Epilepsy in mind, it's such a standard turn of phrase now no-one thinks what it means. So that doesn't bother me.

Mong, spaz and retard really bother me and if I heard them I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to not comment.

I agree that some words are describing behaviours rather than the disability. DS1 will say that 'idiot' is a swear word as is 'stupid' because that is what he has been taught at school.

I agree about trying not to name call but imo some are just around to cause total offense and are inexcusable.

r3 - until MN I had genuinely thought that "having an epi" was the same as "having an epic" and didn't twig the connection with epilepsy. The variant I heard at school never mentioned the word fit with it.

I suppose some words slip into the language and become so generalised "idiot" and "psycho" - that it's easy to forget the connection with medical terminology. I try my best, and would certainly take pains to avoid using words if someone said they were offensive, I see that as common courtesy, rather than PC.

MIL uses "thicko" with alarming frequency. I wouldn't ever say that although it's mild on the scale compared with spaz and retard (shudder)

I do use idiot, pillock etc, and use stupid to describe an ill judged action rather than in relation to a person's intelligence (if that makes sense.)

i've heard 'autistic' used in an offensive way a few times lately.
Like 'she's a bit autistic' ...for someone who's nt but this other person thought was a bit odd.
Plus 'special' ..'he's a bit special'...used in the same way
Plus the obvious ones already mentioned of course.

Actually i quite ofton say...go crazy..sends me mad..go nuts.

it's different though isn't it?.
isn't it?
They aren't medical terms are they.

I do now advoid mental,
I might be an idiot but wht=y can't people accept some words are just wrong?

I hate window licker. That has to be one of the worse. Ihad builers here last Friday, and one of them said that a few times. I wasn't impressed to say the least.

I also agree that mong, spaz and retard are really bad as well.

What does window licker mean?

I've never heard that one before either... and my DS regularly licks windows (and other assorted hard, shiny, cool surfaces...)

I really don't want to describe what it is, because it really isn't nice. Maybe its a regional thing?

RW, my ds2 likes to lick things as well, makes me feel sick sometimes.

I would never use or allow my children to use mong, retard, spaz. Never heard of window licker, but that certainly sounds like another one for the swear kitty.

Idiot I feel has now shifted to mean somebody behaving in a stupid way: nobody uses this to refer to a learning disability anymore, and haven't for a long time. So I think that's ok. Words do change their meaning. Like silly, which used to mean holy or blessed.

I think the crunch comes when a word that has as its main use to describe disability/race/sexual orientation is used as an insult. I also do not allow my children to use gay as a generalised insult which apparently is so common in dd's school that it doesn't even get a reaction out of the teachers (it bloody well ought to!).

Urban dictionary has it (obviously).

Along with most of the ones you've listed up there ^ I also hate it when people who swear a lot describe themselves jokily as "having tourette's"

Nice link (not).

Told you it wasn't very pleasant. I hate it!

I don't know what mong means, but don't like the way it sounds so don't use it. My mate calls me one constantly, as well as idiot etc. She often does the "Are you blind?" thing too, but I don't mind any of that from her because she's not really insulting me, if you get what I mean. Between us, it's banter. But I don't like it when it is used in a derogatory sense.

OK, thanks to urban dictionary my word confusion has gone. There are some horrible words about aren't there? I still don't mind it among friends because I know they don't mean anything by it, and I do give 'em the evil eye if we see someone with sn and then they use it.

My son is adopted. The word 'damaged' is used an awful lot within the care system/social services. I know its not an insult so a bit off topic but I HATE IT.

I refused to use it after a while. During our assesment and adoption course it was used over and over and over.

I objected and was treated to a few .

Damaged sounds like broken, rubbish, useless, worthless to me.

I prefer 'injured' if anything. Perhaps a wee bit poncy but injured people can be healed cant they?

Spaz, mong, leppy, joey, crip all no-nos.

I admit to mentalist but it doesnt mean someone who is mentally ill anyway - its a sort of magician but it sounds funny IMO.

But I wouldnt use it in public. Some words offend me and I expect to be listened to. Therefore if someone tells me they find a word offensive I should listen to them.

While we're on this subject: I LOATHE those t-shirts that say "my mummy says I'm special" URGH! Seriously, we all know what that's implying, at least from my side of the fence anyway!