tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post3775214070737695259..comments2024-01-26T10:20:37.836+00:00Comments on Diary of a Goldfish: Bad languageThe Goldfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-35859627331889766512007-06-17T09:13:00.000+01:002007-06-17T09:13:00.000+01:00Aims, Studying for joint Honours in Commerce and T...Aims, Studying for joint Honours in Commerce and Tourism.<BR/> Not bad for a near Dwarf!<BR/><BR/> informed me some time ago that <BR/><BR/>BITCH is an acronym for Babe In Total Control of Herself which I thought was quite insightful!<BR/><BR/> Now I find myself when confronted with unpleasant words, creating wotsanemes of my own to suit!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-18628832415955170762007-06-16T20:04:00.000+01:002007-06-16T20:04:00.000+01:00Zephyr - In the UK, among some disabled people - c...<B>Zephyr</B> - In the UK, among some disabled people - certainly the crowd I know - crip is a perfectly acceptible term, but as Elizabeth says, it's not so acceptable when a non-disabled person calls one of us a cripple. <BR/><BR/>I can't remember where it was, but at one point some folks came up with a list of different classifications for disabled people, so you had wheelie-crips, ouchy-crips, sticky-crips, blindy-crips, auti-crips, nutty-crips, deafy-crips and so on<BR/><BR/><B>Elizabeth</B> - There have been some feminist attempts to reclaim <I>cunt</I> I believe, but it's not really taken off. It is much much more acceptable in Scotland than it is in England; up there it is still a swearword, but not nearly such a rude one.<BR/><BR/>I love all those differently-abled, challenged, handicapable type euphemisms - for euphemisms they surely are.<BR/><BR/><B>Katy</B> - Hi and yes, I suppose I do. :-)<BR/><BR/><B>JackP</B> - You remind me of what might be an urban myth about loads of business e-mail systems which reject all mails that mention Scunthorpe...<BR/><BR/><B>Seahorse</B> - I think it's great fun to make up insults, which sound insulting even though they don't use strong words. Like "You rotten great walnut-muncher!" or "You big bad cherry-chewer!"<BR/>(I think I must be hungry...)<BR/><BR/><B>Mary</B> - I think you're basically right. I do think formal language needs examination every now and again. For example, you still hear the word <I>spastic</I> in a medical sense; a muscle in spasm. There are subsets of Cerebral Palsy which are <I>spastic hemiplegia</I>, <I>spastic quadriplegia</I> and so on. However, a person with Cerebral Palsy is never referred to as a spastic in any formal context (as far as I know). They used to - SCOPE used to be The Spastics Society, for spastics. <BR/><BR/><B>Maggie</B> - It is a nasty word, isn't it? But yeah, it was probably completely acceptable in the military at the time.The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-22726575211963076052007-06-16T09:40:00.000+01:002007-06-16T09:40:00.000+01:00I was told (when small) that WOG stood for wily or...I was told (when small) that WOG stood for wily oriental gentleman - the insinuation being that they were untrustworthy. My father still uses the word, but he's 88 so has used it for well over 60 years. He was stationed in Egypt for part of the war, so probably picked it up in the army. It's not a word I like. <BR/><BR/>Great post.<BR/><BR/>Best wishes from LiverpoolMaggiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13630530599678517169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-72067743064774147932007-06-16T09:13:00.000+01:002007-06-16T09:13:00.000+01:00I hold firm to my belief that it ain't what you sa...I hold firm to my belief that it ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it.<BR/><BR/>eg if a doctor says of a young patient "his speech is retarded by about five years", that's very different from kids in the playground going "He's retarded! Hahaha!"<BR/><BR/>Very occasionally I've been angry enough to have such a go at someone that they have ended up crying. My vocabulary hasn't been any words that I wouldn't comfortably use in front of my mother/a nun/a disabled person/a teacher/a child, it's been the context and the tone that has made it so upsetting.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639094548415759560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-70940276487824063512007-06-15T22:35:00.000+01:002007-06-15T22:35:00.000+01:00This is very timely, as I have had to pull my son ...This is very timely, as I have had to pull my son up on his choice of language this week. It's really hard knowing exactly how to pitch your response when as a parent who has experienced mental distress, your son uses words like mental and crazy and nutter. He hears them all the time in the playground and on TV. If he read The Mirror, he'd have seen maniac on the front page today (he doesn't, incidentally, and I only saw it cos I was in the corner shop).<BR/>But because of what we've been through he also understands the words depression and mental illness (yes, I have a knee jerk reaction to wishing he didn't...but then why shouldn't he understand these words if it leads to a fuller understanding in general?). I've told him to think about people who may be hurt by him using the words mental, crazy and nutter, which to me are not very imaginative or clever insults. Children actually have fantastic imaginations, and I just wish he hadn't grown out of Roald Dahl, who did more for his vocabulary a year or so back than any schooling has done.seahorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04006649663400552591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-46948394161994147412007-06-15T22:04:00.000+01:002007-06-15T22:04:00.000+01:00Isn't it easiest just to stick with "Johnny Foreig...Isn't it easiest just to stick with "Johnny Foreigner"? At least then people know you're taking the piss and don't mean it seriously... (hopefully).<BR/><BR/>And I would apologise for swearing - but you started it :-)<BR/><BR/>There was an interesting <A HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/06/the_full_context.html" REL="nofollow">debate on the word 'niggaz' on BBC editors blog</A> the other week, suggesting that it's this spelling which is used by the hip-hop crews, rather than the 'er' version which they think is always offensive.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I'll happily <I>swear</I> with the best of them, but the only time I'll use specifically offensive racially-related language is when I'm talking <I>about</I> that language. In which case I think it's fair and fine to do so. Although I sympathise with your niggling doubts. And then end up wondering whether the word 'niggling' relates to the same etymological root...<BR/><BR/>This also reminds me of having to try to put together a filter list for a web mail service in order to pick out/highlight emails with offensive terms. Me and another person spent the best part of a day coming up with every offensive term - sexual, racial, you name it - as a perfectly valid if somewhat unusual piece of work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-9201689561274757262007-06-15T20:22:00.001+01:002007-06-15T20:22:00.001+01:00*words(too much wine?...)*words<BR/><BR/>(too much wine?...)Katy Murrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10154992643553326520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-19091521508536836612007-06-15T20:22:00.000+01:002007-06-15T20:22:00.000+01:00First time I stumbled across this blog, and very i...First time I stumbled across this blog, and very interesting... you seem to relish word :)Katy Murrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10154992643553326520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-90170970339145354332007-06-15T19:21:00.000+01:002007-06-15T19:21:00.000+01:00I spent my teen years in LA so I don't think I hav...I spent my teen years in LA so I don't think I have ever used the N word, though have gone to many events including comedy which did - it was simply a word you didn't want to even think about because at the most basic level, saying it could get you killed (Seriously!) - ironically, it was in the UK that I heard it used the most (along with most anti-jewish slurs).<BR/><BR/>Brits love to use cunt - which I hate and no one seems to be reclaiming, I like words reclaimed "inwards" like Dyke and crip. Though if someone calls me either, that is telling me a lot about them (like how I don't want to know them). <BR/><BR/>I use disabled, though here, even 10 years ago that was a hotly debated issues, I went to an advertised meeting for "people with different abilities" because I was pretty good at juggling (this is when I was able bodied) - which is when I found out it was that years phrase for disabled. I am not against evolving language but standing in a doorway with people in wheelchairs, with walking assist devices staring not so friendly as I stammer about how I can juggle, that's why I'm here.....<BR/><BR/>Thanks for explaining Wog - I had read it in British tales often but never knew exactly its meaning.Elizabeth McClunghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03627373214555333537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-45872675699945602072007-06-15T18:47:00.000+01:002007-06-15T18:47:00.000+01:00I might be alone in this, but I'm arthritic and on...I might be alone in this, but I'm arthritic and on a mission to reclaim crippled or cripple...and I'm Canadian. Perhaps it's because I grew up with an uncle who had a fused knee joint, who matter-of-factly referred to himself, to me, and to his nephew with CP as crippled. No one else ever used the term pejoratively. In fact, the insult of choice hurled at me on the playground was "stiffy" and "robot".Zephyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13020297752831113924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-53498469915947342162007-06-15T17:37:00.000+01:002007-06-15T17:37:00.000+01:00Sara - Hmm, yes, I did say not uncomplicated. I do...<B>Sara</B> - Hmm, yes, I did say <I>not uncomplicated</I>. I don't like these words but I suppose a part of me would rather women owned them instead of them merely being sticks with which to beat us - or at least those women who get so labelled.<BR/><BR/>When I was little, I used the word <I>bloody</I> whilst playing in the garden with my sister. She giggled and told me that was a rude word.<BR/><BR/>I said, "Don't be ridiculous! Bloody bloody bloody bloody!"<BR/><BR/>This made her giggle some more, so I started shouting it, "BLOODY BLOODY BLOODY BLOODY!"<BR/><BR/>At which point I got called indoors by my red-faced mother, who persuaded me that it was indeed a very rude word. It really was as rude as <I>shit</I> or <I>piss</I> when I was growing up; it has diminished a lot, because well... why would it be rude?<BR/><BR/>The common belief is that it is blasphemous from <I>by our Lady</I> but I don't think there's any proof of that - I think it's the Victorians with their <I>gentleman cows</I> and turning haycocks into haystacks and so on.<BR/><BR/><B>Jess</B> and <B>S.</B>, I think S. might be right about <I>retarded</I> or <I>retardation</I> being used in a formal context. If you put <I>retarded</I> into Google, most of the results are about intellectual impairments. Still rather too close to one another for my comfort, but then for whatever reason, we just don't use the word over here at all - well people do say "retard" as an insult but it's an Americanism, something we pinched from the movies.<BR/><BR/>I love "gay" as an insult; I find it so bizarre. I especially crack up when you hear little boys teasing one another; "Jonny loves Jennifer! He kissed her! That's <I>so</I> gay!"The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-79515641954056760652007-06-15T15:03:00.000+01:002007-06-15T15:03:00.000+01:00I think that there's a difference in usage of "ret...I think that there's a difference in usage of "retarded" and "retard" in the US--in some populations (gossipping grandmothers?) the first <I>might</I> still be used without an intention to wound, but it can also be slung pretty hard on the playground, while the second is really entirely pejorative.<BR/><BR/>But I think that by the time most kids hit middle school the slur of choice is "gay."<BR/><BR/>Is it only Yanks jumping in today?S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06957943262402999997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-65095828425894881112007-06-15T14:48:00.000+01:002007-06-15T14:48:00.000+01:00If "retard" really is considered, among Americans,...If "retard" really is considered, among Americans, an acceptable means by which to refer to persons with learning, psychological, or other disabilities these days, I'm ashamed for us-- not to mention fearful of the things we do with language. In my experience the word has never been used in any context other than the derogatory, except possibly on sheet music. I find it troubling to put such terms into formal use without any consideration for their history.<BR/><BR/>Of course, I feel absolutely no qualms about referring to Paris Hilton as a <I>pointless bint</I>. Or a <I>vacuous parasite</I>. That's just fine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-52896647075166871332007-06-15T13:44:00.000+01:002007-06-15T13:44:00.000+01:00I love "celebritwit." I shall use it every day fr...I love "celebritwit." I shall use it every day from now on.<BR/><BR/>I must point out, however, that the words "tart," "slut" and "whore" are not really equivalent in value to the word "stud," which is considered a compliment. Breeders pay for the services of a stud. A stud earns his position and is considered valuable.<BR/><BR/>By contrast, a woman falls to the position of tart, slut or whore. Womanizers pay much less for the services of tarts, sluts and whores, whose services are illegal in most places and whose persons are considered automatically demeaned by virtue of their profession.<BR/><BR/>When heterosexual British men start referring to themselves cheerfully as "rent boys," then perhaps we'll have some parity. I can't think of an American equivalent to that expression, and I only ever hear gay men cheerfully calling themselves and each other "tarts," "sluts" and "whores." Interestingly, I don't think I've ever heard an American gay man refer to himself or another gay man as a "stud."<BR/><BR/>My favorite example of a curse/non-curse word is "bloody," and also "bleeding." In the Victorian era, overhearing such language supposedly could make a British lady fan herself in agitation. I always found this terribly amusing. Maybe it's because I'm a rude American.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com