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daskalos
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: The Road to Ithaca
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 Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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| red dog wrote: |
| If people with developmental problems were still commonly labelled "retarded" (and wanted to be called that) I think it would be offensive to use the word as an insult. |
According to friend of mine who works in the field, "Mental Retardation" is a perfectly acceptable term to use when talking about people who are mentally retarded, so I guess we have to assume that it's officially offensive if we're using it in any other context. To the same extent that using "gay" as an insult is offensive. Concerning the latter, it may be common usage, but so were "n*gger" and "coon" once upon a time, and using gay as an insult makes about as much sense to me as calling something "idiotically hetero."
Twenty years or so ago, on a lark, I looked up as many of the racial slurs as I could think of in the dictionary, and they were all listed as "offensive" or "vulgar," while "f@ggot" was deemed to be slang. Pissed me right off. Dictionaries have mostly caught up with the world on this, though.
Anyway, go ahead and use "gay" as a generic insult, but don't then get pissy when I start using things like "idiotically hetero" when hets start saying things idiotic. |
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red dog
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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| daskalos wrote: |
| red dog wrote: |
| If people with developmental problems were still commonly labelled "retarded" (and wanted to be called that) I think it would be offensive to use the word as an insult. |
According to friend of mine who works in the field, "Mental Retardation" is a perfectly acceptable term to use when talking about people who are mentally retarded, so I guess we have to assume that it's officially offensive if we're using it in any other context. To the same extent that using "gay" as an insult is offensive. Concerning the latter, it may be common usage, but so were "n*gger" and "coon" once upon a time, and using gay as an insult makes about as much sense to me as calling something "idiotically hetero."
Twenty years or so ago, on a lark, I looked up as many of the racial slurs as I could think of in the dictionary, and they were all listed as "offensive" or "vulgar," while "f@ggot" was deemed to be slang. Pissed me right off. Dictionaries have mostly caught up with the world on this, though.
Anyway, go ahead and use "gay" as a generic insult, but don't then get pissy when I start using things like "idiotically hetero" when hets start saying things idiotic. |
I agree about "gay," but it's pretty unusual these days for people to use "retarded" in its original sense. The idea that it's acceptable and not insulting seems quite old-fashioned. |
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daskalos
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: The Road to Ithaca
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| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:01 am Post subject: |
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| red dog wrote: |
| I agree about "gay," but it's pretty unusual these days for people to use "retarded" in its original sense. The idea that it's acceptable and not insulting seems quite old-fashioned. |
Well, in the mental health industry, it's often used when the topic is people who are mentally retarded, and it isn't considered insulting. Outside the mental health industry, the topic of actually mentally retarded people doesn't come up very often. Outside the industry, it's usually just used as a way to imply that some is as stupid as a mentally retarded person.
I'm not even saying don't use it, because I don't like telling people what words they should use, but if you're going to use it to insult someone, don't be surprised if someone gets offended and thinks you're a tool for making light of the actual fact of mental retardation, which isn't a very funny subject to the people it affects. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| manlyboy wrote: |
1. "Don't take this personally, but ... *insert offensive comment here*"
2. "No offense, but ... *insert offensive comment here*"
3. "...*insert offensive comment here*..." |
In reference to this, fresh off the presses:
| Sody wrote: |
Everything said, if you have been looking for a job for more than two months and you haven't found or decided on anything you are either stupid, ugly as hell, unqualified, too picky or you've got a really bad attitude. I mean this in a kind and sincere way, if you honestly can't find work here as an English teacher then perhaps you better not come over in the first place.
Sody |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:36 am Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| billybrobby wrote: |
| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
This is the all-time worst:
"If you don't like X about Korea, then GO HOME!" |
yeah, but that's like calling "hello" and "goodbye" cliches. some stuff just needs to be said. |
Indeed it does. And in here it needs to be said constantly. |
This makes about as much sense, and is based on the same level of logic as "If you don't like reading complaints about Korea, stop reading daves". It's simplistically infantile, and equals a complete negation of dialogue and a wilfull sidestepping of the actual issues involved. People don't like a lot of things, but going home simply isn't the way adults solve thier problems. 99% of people are decent enough to honor thier contract for one thing, making "going home" not an option. What people really mean when they say go home is "Im having a good time, and reading about you not having a good time brings me down, so stop killing my buzz please". People can love living in Korea ( I did ) and still have valid and strong complaints. This phrase brings the tone of consersation down to playground level, and is a complete failure of communication. It's also a negative comment on the intelligence of people who use it frequently. That's one of the reasons why hard core apologists have such low credibility on the board. |
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pocketfluff
Joined: 30 May 2006
Location: Washington, DC (school) and Los Angeles, CA (home)
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| Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:22 am Post subject: |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:15 am Post subject: |
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My Korean/English dictionary includes the phrase "jungle bunny", which is translated simply as "black person." My Korean isn't sharp enough to tell whether it's flagged as "offensive."  |
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