Tales in Etymology

[jackshoegazer]

I was reading an article about how U2's Bono recently called Elvis a "white nigger" which is pretty fucking racist no matter how he meant it.  In the article, it mentions that in the poem that Bono read, there are offensive words like "nigger" (obviously) and "spastic".

HUH?  Spastic is an offensive word?  So I looked it up.  I had no idea that the word had its origins with cerebral palsy, the main symptom of which is spasticity.  Growing up, I knew that words like nerd, geek, spaz, dweeb, et cetera... all had original and quite specific meanings, but they sort of homogenized into rather bland slang insults meaning roughly the same thing.

Now my vocabulary is better and more specific and now I will only use spastic in proper context.  (Though, I never ever called anyone a spaz.)  However, I still have a hard time not saying "retarded" as a pejorative.
 

Comments

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

You know how I feel about "retarded," and in part the wake-up call for me was having a cousin with CP and mental retardation. I think that being more clear and informed with our language is the first step towards breaking down the ableist prejudices we might not even know we have.

[explodingalice.livejournal.com]

Well said. I have to work really hard on that word myself, and have had my own wake-up call due to my work with people with disabilities.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Jeremy's 13-year-old Ethan says it, and I always correct him to say "ridiculous" instead - he's more likely to remember if it's the same word-swap consistently. Of course, there's no noun that takes the place of "retard," though he never really uses that phrase that I know of.

[explodingalice.livejournal.com]

My son says it, too. I try to swap out for "stupid" and get him to do the same. I am really bad about using it as a noun, particularly when it comes to my dog. I'm working on it, though. Saying that things are "gay" when we mean stupid has always been a huge no-no in our house, so I feel that I need to extend the same rule across the board.