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

[anomalon.livejournal.com]

and "cute" meant bow-legged!

[nearlymay.livejournal.com]

I also have a hard time with 'retarded'. It fits so well into my vocabulary, but I don't want to be an asshole.

[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.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

The wonderful thing about Bono is that every time you think he can't possibly be more of a douche, he proves you wrong.

[gutzilla.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, as "spastic" is very well known as an offensive word over here. It's probably because the main British CP charity, Scope, was for a long time called The Spastic Society - so the word fell into common use and eventually became derogatory along with slang like "spaz", etc.

[balamuthia.livejournal.com]

You know, I actually never thought twice about retard or retarded, and even used to laugh at my uncle for doing poor imitations of "retarded" people.

When my son was born and we discovered that he had autism along with a pretty severe speech and language delay, we encountered a caustic and bitter pediatrician that gave us a diatribe on how "pc" language was the reason he didn't dare call our son retarded. Hearing it related to Juniper was horrible and suffice it to say I wasn't laughing anymore.

I was guilty (as lots of people are) of the insensitivity that goes along with never having had to directly face a loved one's battles with mental/physical disability.

Ah, Bono. He's got a lot of money and at least he's putting a great deal of it to good use. I really want to read fully what he said, not that I would defend his use of the word he used, but just to see what messed up context he meant it in.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

I see Dan Savage is saying "leotarded" these days instead of "retarded".

I'm a panelist at WisCon for this panel:

Rethinking Disabling Metaphor

Insults and epithets are pervasively framed as physical and mental differences, such as "they are blind to needed change and deaf to reason." These unconscious metaphors strongly influence how people with actual disabilities are perceived—by the world and by ourselves. This highly–interactive session will include role play and brainstorming to identify these disabling metaphors, deconstruct their logical errors, and invent more accurate, yet still powerful alternatives.

So I've been thinking about it a lot. We all do it-- it's insidious! I'm been trying lately to eliminate "lame" from my stock pejoratives. In fact, I wonder about pejoratives as a category. Insults are the worst offenders-- we insult people by categorizing them as gay, as retarded, as lame, as "pussies". It's revealing about what we devalue in our heads and in society.

I'm just thinking out loud here.

[jesuslovesbono.livejournal.com]

i think it's worth mentioning that Bono was also called a "white nigger" by a black musician, and evidently it was a compliment in that context. Or at least Bono thought so. Heh.
I certainly don't endorse use of that kind of language, but i realize some people have different meanings for some words. (Though of course it would be wise for them to remember that that word is usually very insulting.)
Kind of reminds me of a certain Patti Smith song...hehe

[hellocthulhu.livejournal.com]

The mental image that goes through my head when I say "retarded" isn't of someone mentally handicapped in the traditional sense, it's of George Bush and Sarah Palin.

Which, in retrospect, is probably even more offensive to the mentally handicapped.

[protodisco.livejournal.com]

One problem is that we're using the set of symbols the world has given us and the only way to convey the things we have to say is through this (substantial) set of symbols. The word retard is only what someone is using to accurately portray whatever they're thinking. Nobody says to themselves "I'm going to be inefficient with my language" - they just apply whatever meaning they have in their head to the symbols they've already been provided with. Language is transient, lets treat it that way. I'm not saying we should be openly insensitive and just insist people get over it, or whatever - but any language mob worth their weight wouldn't think about judging something minus the context.

It'd be easier if we all had our individual symbols. Language is such a broken and faulty thing.

[katachthonios.livejournal.com]

I remeber the uproar during the Simpson trial-cum-circus when (Chochran? Bailey?) referenced Marcia Something's behavior as "hysterics", which was promptly thrown before the court like a dead cat, as "hysteria" stems from "hyster-" (womb) and implied a wandering uterus to be the origin.

While I can see the inherent offense in such terms, I think there are times when people need to ease up a bit.