# Is there a politically correct term for "Freaks"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 3, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251 "2007-08-03T06:11:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251/1 "2007-08-03T06:11:25Z")
I was watching a TV show on Sideshow performers and was just curious. In the super politically correct age when words like _midget_ and _dwarf_ are exchanged for _Little People_ (which I’ve always thought sounds way more condescending) it was odd to hear references to “The Monkey Woman” and “The Lobster Family”. While you can refer to “conjoined twins” or [people with osteogenesis imperfecta](http://www.phreeque.com/pete_moore.html), is there an all encompassing word for people would once have been called \*[Freaks](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6355110065089064433) ?
Special Needs would seem not quite right as it implies disabilities and some of these people were far from helpless.
If there’s not one, what would _you_ call them? 😉
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251/2 "2007-08-03T06:40:12Z")
From most of the books I’ve read, the preferred term within the community is, in fact, Freaks.
No online cite, but I recommend the book [Sideshow U.S.A.: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination](http://www.amazon.com/Sideshow-U-S-American-Cultural-Imagination/dp/0226005399/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7463056-8359649?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186123089&sr=8-1).
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251/3 "2007-08-03T06:48:59Z")
Differently abled?
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### Author:  [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251/4 "2007-08-03T08:59:58Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight]
From most of the books I’ve read, the preferred term within the community is, in fact, Freaks.
[/QUOTE]
I think we’re referring to two different communities here. There are those who purposefully perform acts of body manipulation, and there there are those born with certain abnormalities which causes them to stand out. I believe the OP was referring mostly to the latter.
Go to any “freaks” based board and you’ll find it populated with people full of tattoos and piercings, as well as other forms of modification.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-politically-correct-term-for-freaks/414251/5 "2007-08-03T09:20:54Z")
[QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000]
I think we’re referring to two different communities here. There are those who purposefully perform acts of body manipulation, and there there are those born with certain abnormalities which causes them to stand out. I believe the OP was referring mostly to the latter.
Go to any “freaks” based board and you’ll find it populated with people full of tattoos and piercings, as well as other forms of modification.
[/QUOTE]
Opposite, actually. Geeks are those who have modified, Freaks are those who were born that way.