(Don't) Putting Spaz

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Maybe this is a UK/US thing. Over here loads of people say the word and feel a little transgressive, but someone in Tiger Woods's position wouldn't say it publically. Which made it even funnier when I read his quote. Belatedly, a fuss seems to be being made about it.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 08:50 (nineteen years ago)

The world No1's remarks were not helped by the exaggerated awkward stance he adopted for a short putt at the third hole.

?!???!?!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 08:54 (nineteen years ago)

Did he demonstrate by pulling a face, waving his hands, and saying 'Joey'?

― Teh HoBBler (the pirate king), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

Well if they put a "spaz" on the green and let them have a go at putting, it'd surely show what he meant and clear him of any wrong doings.

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:18 (nineteen years ago)

For some reason that comment that "The world No1's remarks were not helped by the exaggerated awkward stance he adopted for a short putt at the third hole" seems MORE offensive than Tiger Woods' remarks

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:21 (nineteen years ago)

US media cover-up

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2006/04/11/sgaffe11.xml

The LA Times, changed the word to "wreck" while The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe all expunged the word completely. Only two US sports news services ran his words in an unedited form.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:28 (nineteen years ago)

Cheney-Rove strikes again!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:30 (nineteen years ago)

Not just the US media:

"when I got on the greens, I was an idiot." reports the BBC.

Taking Sides: Insulting idiots vs insulting spastics.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:44 (nineteen years ago)

BEHOLD TEH SPAZZY TIGER

― Gerard (Gerard), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

Oh boohoo:
http://members.tripod.com/mr_piechart/enter/images/tiger2.jpg

― Gerard (Gerard), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 09:55 (nineteen years ago)

Alba's thread title hasn't yet received the respect it deserves. It's ace.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

I don't get it

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

get lost

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

just a suggestion

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

Drop dead you cunt

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:38 (nineteen years ago)

Just running it up the flagpole

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

lost is a TV prog

I bet dead you cunt isn't

now you look like the badman

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:44 (nineteen years ago)

* weeps uncontrollably *

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:47 (nineteen years ago)

what a pathetic badman you are

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:48 (nineteen years ago)

Please don't hurt me

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:49 (nineteen years ago)

; )

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:51 (nineteen years ago)

[insert moran photoshop jpeg here]
"when I got on the greens, I was a moran."

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 11:17 (nineteen years ago)

I applaud, in the golf-clap manner, the excellent title of this thread.
I like Tiger Woods more now that I know he said spaz. It's that it's a pretty funny word.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

best use of "Spaz" is still the movie "Meatballs"
http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/images_movie/meatballs.JPG

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

what does the title mean?

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

Putting = what you do on a Green, etc.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

Drop Dead You Cunt starts on E4 next week!

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

Best use of said word is a throwaway line in Buffy where the adults regress to kiddies after eating ENCHANTED CANDY. Buffy starts to drive off (somewhat erratically, some might say), and as the car drives away, we hear Principal Seymour comment:

"Hey Summers you drive like a SPAAAAAZ"!

which reduced me to HELPLESS LARFTER last night. Then I felt a bit bad. WHO IS THE REAL WINNER IN THIS SICK SOCIETY?

― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

A term of abuse, e.g. you're such a spastic (also colloquially abbreviated to "spazz", "spack", "spacko", "spanner" and "spacker"), derived from a popular misconception that those with any physical disability resulting in spasticity would necessarily also have a mental or developmental disability. When a "spacker" has a fit, it is often referred to as a "spack attack."

i don't think i've ever heard the spack- variations! they are funneyz :(

― sleep (sleep), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

Ha ha, RJG totally pwned me on this thread!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

4 uninitiated: Wehn u make Walt talk backward backwards on Lost he be saying DONT PUDDING SPAZ k, so thread title is a reference to that. i am the nice guy cos i helped out all you ppl what didn't get it. HOW TO MAKE ILE USERS TO LOVE ME

― teh_kit says 'dont fight u nubs just run in teh instance!' (g-kit), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

i think computers have developed to the detriment of society in retrospect.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

I think this might be the best thread ever.

― Dan (Roffle At Everyone, Esp. Tiger) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

Kit! You've spoilt Lost for all the Englishers who haven't seen pudding spaz yet!

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

The world No1's remarks were not helped by the exaggerated awkward stance he adopted for a short putt at the third hole.

I repeat, ROFFLE.

― Dan (Tiger! Don't Pudding Spaz!) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

i don't think i really spoiled it Jim. i doubt anyone really understood what i said.

― teh_kit says 'dont fight u nubs just run in teh instance!' (g-kit), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

Golfers all be putting spaz

Joe Durant, 12th in Ryder Cup points, struck the ball well Saturday but putted terribly on the way to a 72. Durant is at 1-over 211 for the tournament and tied for 50th.

"I putted like a spaz today," said Durant, who hit 11 of 14 fairways but needed 31 putts.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

esp. as he's not REALLY saying 'don't puddin' spaz'

also, wrestling is FAKE.

(xpost)

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

''All the players are going to be saying, 'Oh, she shot sixty-niiiine,' '' Jones said in a voice commonly used by those of kindergarten age. ''That's where I'll get it from, so no. I shot a hell of a 69. I played great, but I just didn't hit it very good. ... I endured the whole day. I didn't panic. I didn't spaz out. I don't know if I'll hit it good or bad over the weekend, but I hope I keep playing well.''

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

esp. as he's not REALLY saying 'don't puddin' spaz'

DON'T SAY THAT

― Dan (LALALALALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

Publicly, not publically. Spaz.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

I assume this is the image I couldn't open upthread?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/graphics/2006/04/11/sgaffe11.jpg

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/2/2604774_8ee2e01787.jpg

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

maybe they were all referring to the infamously rubbish golfer: Mr Alan Spass (aka A. Spass)

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

BOOTAY TOTALLY SPAZ
http://www.mcfarland.co.uk/sarah/scans/spaz.jpg

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

The world No1's remarks were not helped by the exaggerated awkward stance he adopted for a short putt at the third hole.

If they find that offensive what on earth do they make of Jim Furyk's swing??!!?!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

A. Spass? Fun guy.

(xpost: ROFFLE)

― Dan (LOL At German Jokes) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

One of the regular customers in the shop I used to work in was a Russian dude called Spas Spazov!

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

I'm so disappointed this isn't a LOST thread.

― Sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

i think computers have developed to the detriment of society in retrospect.

them's some long words lol

― teh_kit says 'FACES' (g-kit), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

er sparkle it IS a Lost thread, in places

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

Yet I still feel betrayed.

― Sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

I don't at heart have any problem with this shit, unless somebody thinks "Spaz" is somehow less offensive than "Nigger". Cos that bothers me.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

Did you type that right?

― Tracey "I was such a nigger on the greens today" Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I did. Hohohoh "Spaz".

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

So am I right in assuming the difference is that in the UK there's some actual history of referring to people with palsy as "spazz" or "spastic?" I might be ignorant on this one, but I don't know of any similar habit in the U.S. -- our use of "spazz" seems to connect strictly to "spastic" as, like, a general descriptive adjective. (I even feel like the article -- a spazz -- is a later modification, not descended from actually identifying anyone as a spastic.) I don't think you could use "spastic" to refer to a medical condition in the U.S. and expect to be understood.

We do all this stuff with "retard" instead.

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

OMG Tracery

― Dan (Awesome) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah tru dat about "retard", and the N word mightn't be the fairest analogy. Perhaps it'd be fairer to compare "spazz" with "faggot", where of course "faggot" doesn't actually refer to gay men, it's a general descriptive adjective.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:20 (nineteen years ago)

the N word mightn't be the fairest analogy

OH GEE, DO YA THINK?

― Dan (ROFFLE) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

Dan seriously, I don't want to get into a offensive war, but I am fucking offended that "spaz" can be dismissed so lightheartedly.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

I never knew there was any such medical condition as "spasticity" until this thread!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:26 (nineteen years ago)

get lost

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:26 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno, maybe I'm a jerk but if calling disabled people spastic or retarded is no longer PC, surely those words are up for grabs for other uses? ie: insults :)

I mean the word spasticity has always had uses aside from describing a persons physical state and as far as I know to retard something simply means to stunt it in some way.

― This cunted circus never ends... (papa november), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

just a suggestion

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Who is the black boy in the sex pistols grundy interview?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco OTM. Spaz has never bothered me, but retard does.

I still don't understand the Lost reference, but that's just as well.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

someone in Tiger Woods's position wouldn't say it publically

seriously?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

Dan seriously, I don't want to get into a offensive war, but I am fucking offended that "spaz" can be dismissed so lightheartedly.

Therefore that gives you free license to offend me? Is that how this works?

― Dan (Try Harder) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

no but they might say it as a joke crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

if calling disabled people spastic or retarded is no longer PC, surely those words are up for grabs for other uses?

I'm not lumping words into PC or not PC, I'm not saying words are too offensive to be used. I'm thinking there are several words Tiger could've used that would've sparked a very different set of thread responses than this one, and I'm wondering why people don't think that's a problem.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

No Dan, it don't, and I'm sorry for being an arse about it. But you seemed to think spaz was okay, and that offended me.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

there are no winners, here, Dogfight Giggle crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

My use of the word PC was probably a poor choice.

xpost

― This cunted circus never ends... (papa november), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

No Dan, it don't, and I'm sorry for being an arse about it. But you seemed to think spaz was okay, and that offended me.

You realize you are implying that you think it's okay to say "nigger" to both me and Tiger Woods with that, yes?

― Dan (Seriously, Try Much Harder) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck off, you're taking the piss now.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

"I'm offended, so I'm going to lash out indiscriminately at people for no good reason because I'm a gigantic tool" isn't necessarily the best way to win someone over to your argument, particularly when they aren't particularly against your argument in the first place. (Or, in your righteous ire, did you forget what the phrase "laugh at actually means? Either way, really fucking stupid, dude.)

(xpost: No, I'm not taking the piss, I'm pointing out that A) I was laughing at Tiger's slip-up, not endorsing it, even though as has already been pointed out the word "spaz" does not have anywhere near the loaded connotation in the US as it does in the UK; and B) There was no reason whatsoever for you to use the word "nigger" in this context, particularly since it did not make any logical sense in the analogy you were trying to construct AND the person you are criticizing is part black. You are basically being a big fucking asshole because you got offended and I'm calling you out for it because you need to know that if you would like to get along with ME you will never, ever, ever pull some bullshit like this again.)

― Dan (FIN) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

I never knew there was any such medical condition as "spasticity" until this thread!

That's the part I'm curious about, actually -- it seems like there was some point in the UK where "spastic" was at least a lay term for a set of medical conditions? Whereas in the US I think we'd say "palsy" (in medical terms) -- or, if we were being dicks and lumping shit together, "retarded."

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

Okay. I've admitted it was a stupid fucking analogy to pull and I'll repeat that apology - it was a really fucking stupid analogy, and I'm very sorry. I didn't aim my first comment at you specifically Dan, but I knowing your replies were on the thread it was a snidey, stupid thing to say.

At least partially I was trying to say that any slur-word is context specific and so without criticizing people for smirking at "spaz" I don't find it casually funny.

But that's not a justification and I'm sorry for being a douche.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

SCOPE to thread

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

I appreciate that, thanks.

― Dan (Seriously) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

as has already been pointed out the word "spaz" does not have anywhere near the loaded connotation in the US as it does in the UK

Strange then, that US news organisations should sanitise the quote.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe they did it to avoid offending their British ilxor readership

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

what the hell just happened?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

Strange then, that US news organisations should sanitise the quote.

the New York Times sets the standard and they sanitize all sorts of stuff

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

you would never see the word 'fucking' in a US newspaper

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

Cf recent NYTimes flap over the word "scumbag" appearing in the crossword puzzle! (For the US, "scumbag" is more connected to its original "condom" usage than "spazz" is to "palsy," but it's still fairly disconnected, and the crossword instance was clued with something like "scoundrel," which is how people usually understand it.)

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:49 (nineteen years ago)

The BBC weighs in.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

SCUMBAG MEANS CONDOM?

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

yep!

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

this word is hardly considered offensive in the US.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

TOP TEN WORST WORDS

1. Retard
2. Spastic
3. Window-licker
4. Mong
5. Special
6. Brave
7. Cripple
8. Psycho
9. Handicapped
10. Wheelchair-bound

― Dan ("Window-licker"??? "BRAVE"???????) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

"Brave" is routinely used in the UK media to describe anyone dealing with any kind of illness or disabililty.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

Special! What about the Special Olympics?

Also seeing that list I assumed "brave" meant American Indians and was wondering why it was in a list of words clearly dealing with the handicapped.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

Also "psycho".

― Dan (WTF At UK) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

People in the US don't use "psycho" as an insulting term for people with (certain types of) mental illness? What did you understand by the film's title?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

Special! What about the Special Olympics?

Well yeah, not all people feel the same way about every word. It's a poll. I guess a lot of people find the term patronising and stupid.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

People in the US generally don't view the psychotic as being metally-handicapped, which is the implication of every other word up there except perhaps "brave" (although I'd seen "window-licker" thanks to Aphex Twin, I had no idea it had mental health connotations).

― Dan (Polls Are Funny) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

(By which I mean there is a large semantic difference between "crazy" and "retarded", if you will.)

― Dan (Polls Are Still Funny) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

People in the US generally don't view the psychotic as being metally-handicapped,

I guess when it comes to this poll it's the other way around - it was a poll of disabled people. So I guess they were pissed off at people using terms that weren't even accurately pejorative of them. Or else they just hate mentally ill people.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, most people in the UK know the two are quite different too, but there are some meatheads out there.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

Do they indicate what they want to be called? Disabled, I guess? Because that doesn't seem to be any more a "positive" word than handicapped or wheelchair-bound (uh, presuming person in question actually is wheelchair-bound), but handicapped and wheelchair-bound are both up there and disabled isn't. But I don't see the semantic difference between handicapped and disabled at all.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

It's like I was saying. It's not very helpful to ask what "they" want, like they're some kind of amorphous blob. Some people are happy to be called disabled, others to be referred to as having disabilities but not just be "disabled", others may even be fine with "handicapped". It's a poll, y'know.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

In the UK, rightly or wrongly, "handicapped" has come to be seen as having "cap in hand" or supplicant connotations. "Disabled" is most generally used because it has connotations that the individual's impairment is not their biggest problem, but that they're disabled by society's inability to cope with their impairment. I don't know so much about the history of disability activism in the States over the last 30 years, but in the UK disability activists, like other groups trying to resist social injustice, have spent a lot of time focusing on the language used to denigrate disabled people - and reclaiming some of the language.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

But yeah, it is a problem because sometimes, people with similar issues are going to want to join up together for support or for campaigning purposes and then they need to agree on a way of describing what links them all. I agree that it's hard to see the great distinction between the words "handicap" and "disability" but I guess it's all about how much a word is tainted by societal usage. Sometimes, a word gets all contaminated, a new one is preferred and then a generation down the line, that gets dropped too. I dunno. What would you do?

x-post

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah. Now whether reclaiming/dissecting the bad words is a positive way forward is another argument altogether, but as long as the pressure for change comes from disabled people themselves I think it's difficult for those of us who aren't disabled to question their choice of tactics.

Oh and by the way there's still a sufficiently high level of ignorance about the difference between mental disability and illness that the use of "psycho" doesn't surprise me one bit.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

awesome new username, noodle

― pssst - badass revolutionary art! (plsmith), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

Mong

wtf?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno, maybe I'm a jerk but if calling disabled people spastic or retarded is no longer PC, surely those words are up for grabs for other uses? ie: insults :)

I kind of agree with this, the kate said way upthread, but it can't be an immediate "it's no longer the preferred term, therefore it's up for grabs as an insult" thing. It has to be left a while, I think. Like, I think most words for people with low IQ (idiot, cretin) were once proper medical terms, but that's such ancient history that it's (probably) absurd to deprecate using such terms as insults nowadays. At least not when it comes to insulting people of normal intelligence. WHEREVER YOU DRAW THE LINE.

Anyway, the Spastics Society (for people with cerebral palsy) changed its name to SCOPE in 1994. I think that's probably too recent for the terms "spastic" and "spaz" to be unharmful in the UK, but I dunno.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

Mong = Mongol = someone with Downs Syndrome

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

"Psycho" in the US obviously has connections to the clinical "psychotic," but it's generally used as a descriptive adjective, and almostly solely in cases where you're clearly not talking clinically: either it's random description ("I got home late and my mom when totally psycho about it") or it's like horror-movie cartoonish (like the term "psycho killer," which gets used to describe actual mentally-ill killers, but in this broad layperson way that's obviously not diagnostic). If a person honestly thinks another person is psychotic, "psycho" is not a term that would be used in serious discussion of that fact.

That's not a defense of the term, or anything, just a description of how it gets used here.

(Ha, I used the word "cretinous" earlier today and stopped for a second to think about "cretinism" as a medical condition and what that meant as far as me using the word!) (I used it anyway.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

gabb, "Mong" = "Mongoloid."

x-post of course

― phil d. (Phil D.), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

HANDICAPABLE!

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

If a person honestly thinks another person is psychotic, "psycho" is not a term that would be used in serious discussion of that fact.

Oh, not here either. The poll is a bit confusing, because it makes no distinction between patronisingly well-meant terms that are actually used of people with disabilities (like "brave") and ones that are playground insults (like "mong") and ones in between (like "cripple").

Pretty much everyone would know that calling someone with a mental illness a "psycho" was offensive.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

I tend to believe there's no outright offensive word shorn of context (though I'm still honestly ashamed about my stupidity last night), but there's certainly a sliding scale somewhere between "nearly always offensive" and "hardly ever offensive" that language works within. And then there's the old "two nations divided by a common language" thing, as Mike Skinner recently reminded us.

xposts

pssst, it's from Todd Rundgren, yeah?

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

...and I can see how patronisingly well-meant gets very annoying, very quick.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

The extent to which "retard" is used by Americans and Australians surprises me, but that could be because the term "mental retardation" is not *that* dead a terminology in Britain. Or maybe it's just that you're all bastards.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

Well I wonder, what's elementary education like in the UK as far as, umm, mentally challenged children? The US usage is basically childish, and it stems from a specific kind of school organization where there was a kind of separate sect of "the retarded kids."

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

That's special education! Not "retarded kids"!

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm... well there used to be special schools here for kids with learning disabilities, but over recent decades there's been a push to try and include them in regular schools, and in the same classroom as other kids, yes. But it's a controversial area and I'm not very informed about what the current situation is. Anyone else?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

UK? Mad rush for "inclusion" which has led to a lot of cases of families having to fight for their child's right to go back into non-mainstream schools where they were happier and learning more. If I was cynical I might suggest that this zeal for inclusion has more to do with cutting spending on expensive specialist education than it has to do with the wellbeing of the children.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

alba, you spaz, check your e-mailssss!

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

http://ilx.wh3rd.net/searchresults.php?board=1&mode=threads&q=spaz&titlepart=&name=RJG&email=&username=&dateafter=&datebefore=&catid=all

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

What if Tiger had said 'menk'?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:22 (nineteen years ago)

this is pretty much what i was thinking. but tiger's display on the 3rd makes it pretty clear that he's aware of the british usage.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

It would have been quite cool if he'd said, "I putted like a total raspberry", in a Dick Van Dyke Cockney accent

― D.D. Disappointed Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

'a spanner'

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:40 (nineteen years ago)

a nus

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

A remmer.

― Mike W (caek), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:44 (nineteen years ago)

putted like a total fucktard

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 13 April 2006 11:56 (nineteen years ago)

"Disabled" is most generally used because it has connotations that the individual's impairment is not their biggest problem, but that they're disabled by society's inability to cope with their impairment.

Really? That comes across as a politically expedient reading in extremis. I'd have guessed if you surveyed the average man in the street, they'd say people were disabled because their legs (or whatever) didn't work.

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 13 April 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

Ha ha, that's political correctness gone errrrrrrrrrrrr psychiactrically errrrrrrrr challenged

― D.D. Disappointed Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

is it wrong to talk about spaz-rock then? but spaz-rock is a compliment...

― emsk ( emsk), Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

Spatzel-rock.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

tard-rock?

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

gay-rock

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

sham-rock

― D.D. Disappointed Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 13 April 2006 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

(still ROFFLing at Tiger Woods)

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 November 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

oh noes I have the phrase BOOTAY TOTALLY SPAZ stuck in my head again

― ONIMO's losing the plot (GerryNemo), Thursday, 2 November 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

All is right with the world!

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 November 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

VAJAYJAY TOTALLY SPAZ

― rrrobyn, the situation (rrrobyn), Thursday, 2 November 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

All those months of not ilxing, so THIS is what I was missing.

― polar bear flashback episode (nickalicious), Thursday, 2 November 2006 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

VAJAYJAY TOTALLY SPAZ

i am incapacitated with laughter

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 November 2006 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

eight months pass...

Nintendo withdraws game that taunts 'spastics'

― Alba, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 09:46 (eighteen years ago)

"Andrew Rickell, executive director of Scope, the disability charity, praised Nintendo for withdrawing the game"

That'll be Scope, formerly known as The National Spastics Society.

― onimo, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 09:53 (eighteen years ago)

http://images.tradera.com/297/42225297_1.jpg

I bought mario party 8

― RJG, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:05 (eighteen years ago)

"Nintendo has been forced to withdraw a computer game from sale in the UK because it contains the word 'spastic' in its script."

But we give knighthoods to writers who 'taunt' 1.5 Billion Muslims world wide? Amazing!

"Spastic' is an extremely offensive word."

So is 'Satanic Verses'

Mohammed, London, UK

― acrobat, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:12 (eighteen years ago)

"Magikoopa Magic! Turn the train, spastic! Make this ticket tragic!"

― blueski, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:12 (eighteen years ago)

RJG - can I come over tonight and play with your taunting game?

― Alba, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:29 (eighteen years ago)

I have a headache

― RJG, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:33 (eighteen years ago)

in real life I am not in town but will let you know

― RJG, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 10:34 (eighteen years ago)

That's not the only game banned for use of "spastic" in the past couple of months!

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ubisoft.s-mind-quiz/another-offensive-game-gets-pulled-273614.php

I dunno, but where I'm from spaz/spastic are about as offensive as dumb or idiot. "Spaz" doesn't even mean "act disabled" here, it's more like "get really mad."

― Will M., Thursday, 19 July 2007 20:19 (eighteen years ago)

I bought mario party 8 but am not getting it

― RJG, Thursday, 19 July 2007 20:32 (eighteen years ago)

awesome I have a totally offensive game

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 19 July 2007 20:35 (eighteen years ago)

wish I did : (

― RJG, Thursday, 19 July 2007 20:40 (eighteen years ago)

I dunno, but where I'm from spaz/spastic are about as offensive as dumb or idiot. "Spaz" doesn't even mean "act disabled" here, it's more like "get really mad."

Yeah, it's like when I was a kid 'gay' used to mean lame, but then it meant homosexual and people got upset about me saying it.

― dowd, Thursday, 19 July 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

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