Except, well, they are. Unless you are referring to the “mentally” portion of the phrase. Which just seems to specify the location/reason they are delayed.
The really sucky thing about words is that contrary to popular belief, they do have meaning. When I say “Cell phone use is prohibited at the table.” I should not be told “I’m only checking my voicemail.” “I’m not in the hand.” “I’m sending a text message.” The rule is pretty clear. The word retarded means delayed or slowed, no matter how many times people have tried to make it be offensive, it doesn’t actually change the meaning of the word, it just makes us modify the ways in which we can use it. I can still say “the bleach retarded the growth of mold.” and be well within the confines of polite society. The word didn’t change. The context did. As soon as I realize that WHAT I call you isn’t nearly as important as the respect I have for you, we will be in a much better position.
Then again, a player once called me a terrorist bitch and I laughed, there was so much joy and caring in his voice as he said it…
I refuse to verbally castrate my mailman by referring to him as a letter carrier. Even if I was unaware of his sex, I’d dance around it “Has the mail arrived?”
Does it though? I thought there was a difference, though I’d love to get the Straight Dope on it. Aren’t there things that are illegal but aren’t considered criminal acts subject to criminal prosecution, like turning without signalling or parking in a no-parking zone?
I’ve never seen “differently abled” in the real world, but I agree. And any form of “challenged” is annoying. One I particularly don’t like, even though it’s popular, is “little person.” I’ve heard too many people refer to their small children that way, and I’m 31. I’d rather be called a fucking midget, because I just know that most of the people who are trying to tiptoe around with insipid terms are actually thinking, “I can’t call her a midget, it’s wrong…hmmmmm…oh yes! Vertically challenged, that’s it!” I think I ran into that one just once in the real world when it wasn’t a joke. And don’t absolutely insist on “people with (blank)”; some people like it, I loathe it, and I can’t be the only one. I know I’m a person without somebody patronizingly telling me I am.
If you don’t know what to call somebody…ask. And only if it’s actually relevant, please.
I abhor the term “ethnic cleansing.” There is nothing “cleansing” about it, and the more accurate terms genocide, pogrom, mass murder, holocaust, etc. should be used instead. I first heard the term “ethnic cleansing” used during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and it was a term invented by the murderers, so it is really awful to see it used in the newspapers as if it were a real word.
African-American. First, it assumes your family is from Africa. Second, it assumes you’re american. What, French black people can’t come to america? I have a teacher that’s from West Africa. She’s African. Not African-American, just African. I knew a black guy from Puerto Rico. He’s not African by any means, and took offense to the term.
My polish ancestors settled in America in the early 1920s. Slaves haven’t been around since the 1860s. Why do they get tagged w/ a -american, and I’m lumped with “Caucasians”? I’ve never been to the Caucases, nor has my family.
Well, you don’t have to be fat to have issues with your body, you know.
:rolleyes:
One really stupid and patronizing example I can think of-we had a group come into the science center last week-obviously a school or something for those who are mentally retarded, developmentally disabled, whatever.
The name of the school? “Something School for the Gifted.”
How patronizing and insulting is THAT? To imply that having Downs Syndrome or whatever is somehow a GOOD thing, a “gift”? What the fuck?