tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post413217925508993385..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: spastic, learning disabilitylynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56865097997994467582022-08-05T02:23:26.798+01:002022-08-05T02:23:26.798+01:00I'm in my 60s and have lived in Canada most of...I'm in my 60s and have lived in Canada most of my life and the short form for someone from Pakistan was always regarded as an ethnic slur. Sure, people might have used it but they did so knowing that it was a slur. I remember it being used in a skipping rhyme in the 1960s and our teacher making us change it to "Patty".Greenfordangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13563251864681291888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-15505364057482705862016-06-16T22:07:42.870+01:002016-06-16T22:07:42.870+01:00The problem with word usage is that it changes wit...The problem with word usage is that it changes with the perception of the person using it and the person hearing it. One can mean something completely inoffensive, but the other person can precive it as offensive. Growing up I heard the phrase,"It's not how you say it, but the way they take it, but I also feel that it the opposite way as well. Both people in a conversation have a responsibility to make sure that they are both understood and make sure that they are understanding the other person correctly. Personally, I believe that, with a few well placed questions, a lot of miscommunications can be cleared up. Unfortunately, we as human beings tend to make a lot of assumptions when we lack facts. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14306374891734550921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-80776199784358473562016-06-05T13:40:22.132+01:002016-06-05T13:40:22.132+01:00As well as geographical travel and time travel, th...As well as geographical travel and time travel, there's <b>class-travel</b>. It's perfectly acceptable for young Black men (I don't know about women) of a certain narrowly defined social sub-group to address each ofter as '<i>n*gger'</i>'. But there's absolutely no way any of the rest of us can cross that boundary. If we use the word — however well-meaningland empathetic we think we are — it becomes an insult.<br /><br />At least, that's true in the time and place where I live. Anonymous apparently lives somewhere (or somewhen) else.<br /><br />By the same token, I don't think critics of whatever colour are entitled to perform reverse class-travel and tell that in-group that they are insulting one-another.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-83978492907533666612016-06-05T13:29:25.897+01:002016-06-05T13:29:25.897+01:00Yes, it would be totally unacceptable for speakers...Yes, it would be totally unacceptable for speakers to time-travel here from the past and use words like <i>Paki</i> and <i>N*gger</i> the way they used them back then. But what about time-travel in the opposite direction? <br /><br />• Why do people feel free to condemn Mark Twain for using the n-word without a scintilla of hatred in <b>Huckleberry Finn</b>?<br /><br />• Much as I love the comedienne Shappi Khorsandi (British of Iranian origin), I can't share her disquiet at this fierce <b>satire</b> of racism. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOKqzJJvEOw" rel="nofollow">click ere</a>. For Shappi, the horror of the n-word is so strong as to dilute, almost negate the force of the satire.<br /><br />Another example of reverse time-travel; The <i>George Mitchell </i>(originally <i>Black and White Mistrels</i>) performing behind Millicent Martin were obviously a throwback to the <i>nigger minstrel</i> tradition but then more often criticised form being old-fashioned than for being racist. Yes, we <b>now</b> know that Black people did object, but it was only many years later that mainstream opinion joined them. But to hear people speak nowadays, you'd think everybody always saw the race-hatred implications. The Minstrels themselves can't have been racists, or they would't have agreed to perform the anti-racist song.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-85865671669289834822016-06-05T13:20:39.646+01:002016-06-05T13:20:39.646+01:00One place where today's offensive terms are in...One place where today's offensive terms are inoffensive is the past.<br /><br />At there end of the sixties I was living in Bradford (or, for a time, in nearby Leeds) teaching English to immigrant children. <br /><br />I should explain that this part of Yorkshire in the North of England was a particular magnet for immigrants from West Pakistan and East Pakistan (before there was a Bangla Desh). Nowadays, Bradford is just one of many cities with a substantial and visible immigrant minority. In those days it was considered exceptional.<br /><br />Because of the children i knew, I personally thought in terms of West Pakistani, East Pakistani, Indian etc. But the Bradfordians around me would conflate all South Asians as <i>Pakis</i>. Yes, some were hostile, but very many were not. For many (I would say most) people it was a convenient adjective for <i>paki shops, paki cafes, paki butchers</i> etc. Then I spent a year aways from Bradford and several more years away from Britain. At some time I became aware of the term <i>paki bashing</i> (racially motivated attacks on South Asians) but I just wasn't around to observe that <i>paki</i> had become a hate term used exclusively (or nearly so) by racists.<br /><br />No doubt there were South Asians who already objected to the term in the sixties, but I never met them. For most of the British population the word was either unknown or neutral.<br /><br />Believe it or not, the same can be said for the N-word. In sound recordings of spontaneous speech in the past, I heard (or read a transcript of) African Americans in the South using <i>n*gger</i> to mean 'Black like me'. Yes of course the word was used a term of hatred or despite by those who hated or despised Black people. But unprejudiced Whites used the word too — until persuaded to use another word.<br /><br />But which word? <i>Coloured</i> was favoured, then dropped in favour of <i>Negro</i>, which in turn was rejected in favour of <i>Afro American</i>. Then <i>Black</i>, which had once been thought offensive, was rehabilitated, before <i>African American</i> became the most politically acceptable. (There was once an occasion when American journalists agonised on how to describe some Black British relatives of some massacre victims. Smee seriously considered describing them as <i>British African Americans</i>.)<br /><br />Even the word <i>Race</i> was briefly considered the most acceptable term. The fashion didn't last — except that record companies described their catalogues produced for the African American market as <i>Race records</i>.<br /><br />Throughout all this linguistic change <b>some</b> African Americans in the rural South continued to use the word <i>n*gger</i> to mean 'Black like me'. I know that, because some of them were blues singers who made records. Not that it was always acceptable to Blacks who were removed from them in time or place or social class. Big Bill Broonzy told a story (just possibly true) of the singer form Mississippi Tommy McClennan causing a riot in a Chicago tavern when he insisted on singing his hit song <i>Bottle Up And Go</i> with his original lyrics:<br /><br /><i>N*gger and the White man playing seven-up<br />N*gger win the money but he's scared to pick it up<br />He got the bottle up and go</i>...<br /><br />Back down South, it wasn't a white racist who coined the rhyming critique of the sharecropping system<br /><br /><i>An ought's an ought<br />A figure's a figure<br />Everything for the White man<br />Nothing for the N*gger</i><br /><br />[ASIDE <i>an ought</i> is to <i>a nought</i> as <i>an orange</i> is to <i>a norange</i>]David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-49781056327993099952016-06-05T01:06:06.619+01:002016-06-05T01:06:06.619+01:00Hey, Anonymous, I'm really interested to hear ...Hey, Anonymous, I'm really interested to hear where you're from.<br /><br />I haven't seen anything here that says that Americans want people to conform to their views. I certainly haven't written any such thing. I've seen something that says that a word that isn't considered to refer to a specific disability in country X does refer to that disability in country Y (in what is now considered a negative way--but, at least in the long form, was not always so). And so, <br />(a) country X people who don't think that word is offensive should be aware of that offense so that they can adjust their language usage if they feel it's necessary in the context they're in, and <br />(b) people from country Y might want to know that people from country X are not operating with the same experience of the language that they are, and that this may make them seem like they're insenstive, when really they're just speaking a different dialect.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-33847115217913013942016-06-05T00:58:12.549+01:002016-06-05T00:58:12.549+01:00Where I'm from, "nigger" is just a w...Where I'm from, "nigger" is just a word used to describe black people, but apparently it's offensive in some places.<br /><br />What's funny here is that the USA loves insisting that the rest of the world conform to their views and stop using words that they don't like, but when a word they want to use, such as "spaz", is offensive elsewhere, they think it's completely alright for them to keep using it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-15457332007914990172014-06-21T04:35:16.236+01:002014-06-21T04:35:16.236+01:00I had never heard of ED until just now. The curren...I had never heard of ED until just now. The current term used in educational circles in the States is EBD, which stands for Emotional and Behavior Disorders.Dianenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-6967044596686579312012-08-04T12:45:35.638+01:002012-08-04T12:45:35.638+01:00I agree with bstirling. In my part of the US, ...I agree with bstirling. In my part of the US, 'Paki' would be considered very offensive.<br /><br />Also, it may be worth noting that 'spaz' can also be used as a verb. In the phrase 'spaz out' it means to get very angry or upset. "My mom spazzed out when she found I got a C on the exam."Gracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14644859183662353936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62898916280621884132007-11-30T14:57:00.000+00:002007-11-30T14:57:00.000+00:00A recent Scott Adams newsletter (he is the writer ...A recent Scott Adams newsletter (he is the writer of the Dilbert cartoons), in the section recording overheard idiotic remarks , refers to a mother haranguing a school football (NFL) coach who had placed her son in the special team - she reckoned he deserved to be on the "normal" team .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-74624602922286500962007-11-29T13:15:00.000+00:002007-11-29T13:15:00.000+00:00In fairness, Spastic was never a dreadful taboo ex...In fairness, Spastic was never a dreadful taboo except in certain trendy or "politically correct" circles. People here in England still call others a spaz or a Joey if they fumble something or trip over, and in the majority of cases, with no ill feeling to those with cerebral palsy.<BR/><BR/>And SCOPE wasn't formerly known as "The Spastic Society" (which suggests 'Stastic' as an adjective), but The Spastics' Society (with Spastics as a noun).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-82996676909288640722007-09-06T07:39:00.000+01:002007-09-06T07:39:00.000+01:00Part of the reason that mental handicap (as it use...Part of the reason that mental handicap (as it used to be known) is now called learning disability, is to stop it being confused with mental illness. I believe this move was led by Mencap.pandophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12499439566627693699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-41649029668215146302007-03-05T22:25:00.000+00:002007-03-05T22:25:00.000+00:00In NZ, we had the 'Crippled Children's Society', b...In NZ, we had the 'Crippled Children's Society', but it soon became very unPC to call someone 'crippled'. Hence we now have CCS - which most people know <I>stands for</I>... the Crippled Children's Society. Why not go for a new name altogether??<BR/><BR/>One thing I came across whilst living in Australia, and visiting the UK, was 'fitting'. I found it shocking, much like you discovered in the UK when you used 'spaz'. In NZ one would talk about someone 'having a seizure', and I've not heard anyone use 'having a fit' in conjunction with epilepsy for quite some years. We do, however, still talk aobut someone having a fit about something, when meaning they are very angry. ("My mother had a fit at me last night for getting in half an hour late!")<BR/><BR/>Spastic down here had the same cerebal palsy connotations, and is most certainly a bad thing to say as it is in the UK.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-86321184921766104852007-03-02T02:16:00.000+00:002007-03-02T02:16:00.000+00:00Jangari, why you bring US politics (idiot, unintel...<I>Jangari, why you bring US politics (idiot, unintelligentsia) into this is a bit of a mystery.</I><BR/><BR/>If you associate these words with American politics, then, that's very interesting in itself. I meant them as nothing more than a general observation. Having said that, the sentence with 'unintelligentsia', I agree, could have been better worded altogether. There certainly isn't anything parochial in it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-48191384911044691682007-03-01T22:52:00.000+00:002007-03-01T22:52:00.000+00:00"Mental defective" was used when I was young. At ..."Mental defective" was used when I was young. At University, a chump would be dismissed as a "spastic hoof". In Edinburgh 30 years ago, a "Paki" was a corner shop.deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-40588558871864759962007-03-01T22:21:00.000+00:002007-03-01T22:21:00.000+00:00In my part of Canada, Paki certainly is a racist t...In my part of Canada, <I>Paki</I> certainly is a racist term for a person from South Asia and is not considered acceptable by most people.<BR/><BR/><I>Special</I> is often used as an insult, but you have to say it in a sneering, condescending tone. There's also "short-bus special," which comes from the way that disabled children are often bussed to school separately on a smaller bus.<BR/><BR/>On an interesting note, educational funding in my area groups all students with distinctive educational needs together, specifically those with disabilities and those students in the gifted and talented programs. So a special needs student, according to the government categories, may be the next Einstein.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00158600227727226651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-37637748238195901692007-03-01T20:38:00.000+00:002007-03-01T20:38:00.000+00:00Re students becoming learners: I was only the othe...Re <I>students</I> becoming <I>learners</I>: I was only the other day involved in a conversation about how students seem to have become <I>customers</I> round here. Ugh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-15478163685394670002007-03-01T20:10:00.000+00:002007-03-01T20:10:00.000+00:00Another example would be 'Paki' for Pakistani. In ...Another example would be 'Paki' for Pakistani. In the UK it is a racist term for South Asians, whether or not they're from Pakistan. It's considered very offensive indeed.<BR/><BR/>In the US and Canada, it is a simple abbreviation of the word 'Pakistani', with no negative connotations. I remember the palpable embarrassment of a BBC news presenter when a Canadian UN official he was interviewing repeatedly used the term 'Paki' while talking about the Pakistani UN peacekeepers in Somalia in the early/mid 1990s.Ilanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04330653189587837903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-27394850188012477152007-03-01T13:50:00.000+00:002007-03-01T13:50:00.000+00:00I've encountered the use of "special" as an insult...I've encountered the use of "special" as an insult - but in my experience you have to say it in a certain way for it to be taken as an insult or friendly jab. It's hard to describe online.<BR/><BR/>I do recall, when I was in high school, learning a variation on the "Toys R Us" jingle in which one sang "I don't wanna grow up, I'm a special ed kid. My mommy dropped me on my head and look what it did..."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-1048079709130681832007-03-01T12:47:00.000+00:002007-03-01T12:47:00.000+00:00"Spaz" was a term we used liberally when I was in ..."Spaz" was a term we used liberally when I was in my teenaged years in the Midwest in the 60's. It really wasn't even an insult at all...just a term used as an alternative to "klutz", as you wrote in your piece. I don't think I have used "spaz" for years now, but I will be especially cautious about doing so here in the UK.<BR/><BR/>JanetJanethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16494516976868488211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67484077645495779432007-03-01T10:29:00.000+00:002007-03-01T10:29:00.000+00:00I think you'll find that 'special needs' has becom...I think you'll find that 'special needs' has become 'additional requirements', just as 'student' has become 'learner'. Sheesh. Someone save us from inoffensive rhetoric.<BR/><BR/>Jangari, why you bring US politics (idiot, unintelligentsia) into this is a bit of a mystery. But I can see why it might be a subconscious response to the topic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-2863138610881267502007-03-01T03:23:00.000+00:002007-03-01T03:23:00.000+00:00Worry not.In time, all these terms will go through...Worry not.<BR/><BR/>In time, all these terms will go through a natural euphemism-taboo cycle of lexical change. <I>Special</I> will pertain only to the implied meaning behind <I>special needs</I> while <I>learning difficulty</I> will be used to patronise the unintelligentsia. <BR/><BR/>One the other side of the equation, words like <I>retard</I>, <I>spastic</I> and (for the British) <I>spaz</I> will lose all connection to their pathological basis and will be used only as very mild insults, much like <I>idiot</I>, which, if the cline continues, may just evolve into a proper name by then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com