# Acceptable synonyms for "Little People," and the movie Foul Play **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [November 26, 2024, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794 "2024-11-26T10:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/1 "2024-11-26T10:26:21Z")
I just saw _Foul Play_ on TV recently, and I hadn’t seen it since I was in Jr. high when it was first in theaters, so, loooooong time ago. In it (and this is not a spoiler) Goldie Hawn’s character, Gloria Mundy is told to “Beware the Dwarf.” I am not an expert, but I am somewhat aware on the community of Little People in the US-- enough to know that they prefer to be called “Little People,” and don’t especially like “dwarf” as a common term, but accept it as a clinical diagnosis. At one point in the movie, Gloria’s landlord, played by Burgess Meredith, paraphrases the warning, and says something like “Look out for the -------!” The last word is bleeped out. My memory at 57 of a film I saw around 11 or 12 is that he said “midget,” but I wouldn’t bank on a 45-year-old memory. However, I’m more interested in why it was bleeped. I know Little People object to it, on several grounds, its often being used inaccurately among them, but I was not aware that organized Little People objected strongly enough to get a 45-yr-old movie censored-- maybe get the word changed for a new film, but snipped from an old one? Or maybe I’m remembering wrong, and the word was not “midget,” but something more volatile. Anyone know for certain? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/2 "2024-11-26T11:41:20Z")
It was midget. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/3 "2024-11-26T12:15:03Z")
According to IMDb, it’s actually “midgets,” plural. Meredith’s character then says “they’re taking over the world.” Perhaps it wouldn’t have been bleeped, were it not for the sinister, dehumanizing implications of the second line. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/4 "2024-11-26T13:20:33Z")
I had to deal with the question of how to describe a Little Person when I wrote about a famous one in my book _Lost Wonderland_. Alize Espiridiona Cenda del Castillo, who performed professionally as _Chiquita_ would have been described as a “midget” when i was a kid, because she was proportionally small (whereas “dwarf” was used to refer to someone with small limbs and a larger torso. Both terms are avoided today. “Midget”, I’ve been told, is associated with “midge”, as in the diminutive fly, and is seen as pejorative. So what should I call Chiquita in my book? I quoted her own press release: > [@](#): > > Not classed as a Freak of Nature, but properly termed a Gift of Nature – Smallest Representative of her Sex – Twenty Eight Inches in Height, Perfect in Form and Figure. She spoke Italian, Spanish, and English, played instruments, and was supposed to be a great wit. Her Wikipedia entry says she was Cuban, but she was more likely born in Mexico. She was also the center of a _cause celebre_ when she eloped with a musician, was forcibly re-captured by her exhibitor, then the pair escaped again and struck out on their own. > **[Espiridiona Cenda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espiridiona_Cenda)** > > Alize Espiridiona Cenda del Castillo (14 December 1869 – 11 December 1945), known on stage as Chiquita, was a Cuban dwarf singer and performer. > At 26 inches tall, she had built for her by C. Francis Jenkins what was in 1901 then the smallest automobile ever built. > Cenda was married and had one child, which weighed no more than two pounds and died at an early age. > Cenda spoke Spanish, Italian and English. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/5 "2024-11-26T13:31:51Z")
It’s generally the case that today’s technical term becomes tomorrow’s slur. I can think of numerous examples I won’t say here. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/6 "2024-11-26T15:17:30Z")
Forget the Little People, beware that python that laughed when the film was destroyed. Gotta love Scrabble. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/7 "2024-11-26T17:00:47Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > It’s generally the case that today’s technical term becomes tomorrow’s slur. I can think of numerous examples I won’t say here. Yes things evolve. I don’t have anyone in my life that I can ask but it seems to me that dwarf isn’t really frowned upon by those that have dwarfism as long as it’s a descriptor for their medical condition and not used as a label. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/8 "2024-11-26T17:29:06Z")
I seem to remember, long before Little Person became the accepted term, that “midget” was usually used to refer to a short person of proportionate dimensions (i.e. the relative size of their torso and limbs were similar to those of a taller person) and “dwarf” was used to refer to a person whose limbs were out of proportion to their torso. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/9 "2024-11-26T19:27:56Z")
In a case of “you can’t please everybody”, I saw an interview of a little person where he said he preferred the term dwarf. I couldn’t help laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/10 "2024-11-26T20:05:36Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I seem to remember, long before Little Person became the accepted term, that “midget” was usually used to refer to a short person of proportionate dimensions Like Sandra Dee the girl midget (Gidget). Which, on reflection, _was_ an intended pejorative in 1959. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/11 "2024-11-26T20:17:52Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > In a case of “you can’t please everybody”, I saw an interview of a little person where he said he preferred the term dwarf. I knew a woman that once said “I am not Black, I am a lovely shade of Mocha”. But there is the “official” info on this 0- [https://www.lpaonline.org/faq-#:~:text=Such%20terms%20as%20dwarf%2C%20little,name%20than%20by%20a%20label](https://www.lpaonline.org/faq-#:~:text=Such%20terms%20as%20dwarf%2C%20little,name%20than%20by%20a%20label). _Such terms as dwarf, little person, LP, and person of short stature are all acceptable, but most people would rather be referred to by their name than by a label._ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/12 "2024-11-26T20:47:44Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I seem to remember, long before Little Person became the accepted term, that “midget” was usually used to refer to a short person of proportionate dimensions (i.e. the relative size of their torso and limbs were similar to those of a taller person) and “dwarf” was used to refer to a person whose limbs were out of proportion to their torso. Look up to my post where I stated this three hours earlier ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/13 "2024-11-27T00:16:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Look up to my post where I stated this three hours earlier My apologies; I don’t know how I missed that. I plead temporary insanity due to a caffeine deficiency. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/14 "2024-11-27T03:38:11Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > My apologies; I don’t know how I missed that. I plead temporary insanity due to a caffeine deficiency. It happens to us all. Sorry if I was short with you. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/15 "2024-11-27T04:35:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Sorry if I was short with you. We see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/16 "2024-11-27T10:37:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I don’t have anyone in my life that I can ask but it seems to me that dwarf isn’t really frowned upon by those that have dwarfism as long as it’s a descriptor for their medical condition and not used as a label. That is true, and I think I mentioned it in my OP, but I probably wasn’t clear. I may have posted that at midnight. > [@LurkMeister](#): > > I seem to remember, long before Little Person became the accepted term, that “midget” was usually used to refer to a short person of proportionate dimensions (i.e. the relative size of their torso and limbs were similar to those of a taller person) and “dwarf” was used to refer to a person whose limbs were out of proportion to their torso. Actually, it’s a finger/thumb thing-- all midgets were dwarves, but not all dwarves were midgets. The modern term for “midget” is “pituitary dwarf,” and if you are following along in your text, you’ll figure out that pituitary dwarfism mostly no longer exists, because people deficient in human growth hormone can take injections of an artificial one, and grow to the size their genes dictate. I actually wonder if that might be one objection to it. A lot of Little People contributed to-- and a few made great sacrifices-- to find a cure. So that makes midget a sort of erasure of that. People treated for pituitary dwarfism don’t become giants, and you can’t pick them out from a crowd-- they end up about the same height as their siblings, because the treatment has been around a long time, and the dosage is calculated very accurately. Actually, I guess it’s inaccurate to say that pituitary dwarfism no longer exists-- it gets diagnosed every day-- but the treatment is so effective, it can be called a cure. I wonder if it might even be more common now than it used to be, because chemotherapy usually destroys the ability of the body to release HGH, and so children who recover from cancers may only grow two or three more inches after effective cancer treatment. Since such children did not typically survive to adulthood until about the 1970s or 80s, with greater percentages surviving every decade since, but surviving with acquired dwarfism, maybe that actually has made it more common. I know a guy who had this-- he was diagnosed at 8 with leukemia, and pronounced cured at 15, at which time, he looked about 11. Grew so fast after that, you barely recognized him from week to week. I can see I’ve gone way off-topic-- but it is my thread. I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/17 "2024-11-27T12:28:37Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > It’s generally the case that today’s technical term becomes tomorrow’s slur. I can think of numerous examples I won’t say here. The term of art is “euphemism treadmill.” ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/18 "2024-11-27T18:00:24Z")
Yes. Some more mild examples - “Special” has become a schoolyard insult. I got reamed by someone a few years ago for “Oriental” which I had never realized before then was considered offensive by some. (“South Asian” and “East Asian” seem very contrived, and of course “Indian” as a south Asian has it’s own problems, the obvious being not everyone from that area is from India, etc. Is Indonesia South or East or southeast Asian?) I recall watching the Olympics in Sydney on TV. The announcer described one (American) swimmer as a “Chinaman” then after the next commercial break came on to present a grovelling apology for the term - I’m guessing no-one had told him that before. Part of it is minorities taking offense at even what was official names due to past use, and part of it is others using the official terms with the appropriate tone to turn them into insults. * * * My understanding is that classical dwarfism is a genetic abnormality, and it results in the small limbs and hip shape. Unlike HGH therapy, there’s not much that can be done about it yet. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/19 "2024-12-11T10:14:54Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > At one point in the movie, Gloria’s landlord, played by Burgess Meredith, paraphrases the warning, and says something like “Look out for the -------!” The last word is bleeped out. I must be getting punked by the Mandela effect, because my memory of that scene is different. The landlord (iirc) was somewhat dismissively recapping Gloria’s narrative back to her, and quoted the warning as “Look out for the elf!” Which I don’t really understand why they would have bleeped that word. It really made the line hilarious in his gentle Irish brogue. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-synonyms-for-little-people-and-the-movie-foul-play/1010794/20 "2024-12-12T05:34:59Z")