# People aren't Aspergers! They HAVE Asperger's! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288 "2011-06-13T04:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/41 "2011-06-13T21:27:14Z")
“Aspergic” is clearly the correct form of the word. As in, “Rachael Ray is Aspergic.” “I am allergic to Aspergics.” and for the implied syllogism: “Therefore, I am allergic to Rachael Ray.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/42 "2011-06-13T22:14:06Z")
I crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/43 "2011-06-13T22:35:22Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Even that’s not PC, according to the APA. You would say “she’s an autistic person.” Or “she has autism.” Until next year when that isn’t PC. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/44 "2011-06-13T22:40:07Z")
I have problems with “I had a surgery” … you mean you have an actual operating theater in your house? How cool is that … I have had operations, or I have had surgical procedures, but I don’t have an operating theater in my house [though with the ability mrAru has of bunging himself up around the farm one could be useful. And yes, I know that language is an ever changing ‘live’ thing … but to me a surgery is either a British doctor’s office, or the place one conducts a surgical procedure, also called an operation. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/45 "2011-06-13T23:53:14Z")
Or if you don’t want autism to be considered a disability, you’d say “I want to see her skills of an autist.” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/46 "2011-06-14T01:49:55Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Just learn to say the damn words. If I have to help another person find “the DIE-beetus section of the liberry”, I’m going to brain them with the PDR. People with accents different than your own may still be (and _are_, in the quoted example) saying the words correctly. You’re not _hearing_ it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/47 "2011-06-14T01:58:26Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Ass Burgers? The ass-meat _is_ the best part of the cow for making burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/48 "2011-06-14T02:15:55Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I crazy. You and me, both, baby! Wanna get it on? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/49 "2011-06-14T02:32:27Z")
The OP is so OCD. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/50 "2011-06-14T03:03:18Z")
In English, when there’s no adjective available, people often use the noun as an adjective. Don’t like it? Stop using English. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/51 "2011-06-14T03:04:36Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Until next year when that isn’t PC. :rolleyes: I haven’t seen any real change in so-called PC language about people with disabilities in the last 20 years. In 1992 I went through a training for a job, and I just went through one at my new job, and they were exactly the same. People first language, don’t say “the blind,” etc. It’s all common sense and easy to remember. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/52 "2011-06-14T03:05:50Z")
Guys, it’s called [metonymy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy) - where one part or characteristic stands in for the whole - and it’s a perfectly valid form of metaphor and figure of speech. We do it all the time in other circumstances. “He’s out for a piece of ass”, "The White House today refused to speculate . . . ", and “all hands on deck” are other versions. **John Mace** is completely right pointing out that we often say a person is an asshole, a dick, a cunt, or some other body part, in an effort to assign negative characteristics to them. It’s the same thing, except without the negativity. I frequently say “I’m ADD,” because it instantly communicates the information I want to give, it’s less formal than saying “I have ADD,” and I can modify more easily in a less formal, slightly humorous way when I say “I’m _especially_ ADD today, guys.” As there are times when I feel like my ADD lives in a big, blinking neon sign with chaser lights suspended over my head, it feels more truthful to recognize its immediacy by saying “I am” instead of “I have”. Neither ADD nor Asperger’s Syndrome has been in the public awareness long enough to really have settled on a preferred usage. It will eventually. Doctors and other professionals will continue to speak of the disorders in formal medical terminology, the rest of us will find a usage that falls off the lips more easily than the others and conveys the meaning we wish, and someone somewhere will be annoyed with it. It’s the Circle of Life. Or do you guys correct people when they say they’re nauseous by telling them they’re actually nauseated? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/53 "2011-06-14T03:13:15Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I crazy. Us crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/54 "2011-06-14T03:23:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Or do you guys correct people when they say they’re nauseous by telling them they’re actually nauseated? Of course not, nauseous is an adjective, meaning “afflicted with nausea”. On the other hand, no one goes around saying “I’m especially nausea today, guys”, “She’s nausea”, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/55 "2011-06-14T13:30:21Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Guys, it’s called [metonymy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy) - where one part or characteristic stands in for the whole - and it’s a perfectly valid form of metaphor and figure of speech. We do it all the time in other circumstances. “He’s out for a piece of ass”, "The White House today refused to speculate . . . ", and “all hands on deck” are other versions. **John Mace** is completely right pointing out that we often say a person is an asshole, a dick, a cunt, or some other body part, in an effort to assign negative characteristics to them. It’s the same thing, except without the negativity. > > I frequently say “I’m ADD,” because it instantly communicates the information I want to give, it’s less formal than saying “I have ADD,” and I can modify more easily in a less formal, slightly humorous way when I say “I’m _especially_ ADD today, guys.” As there are times when I feel like my ADD lives in a big, blinking neon sign with chaser lights suspended over my head, it feels more truthful to recognize its immediacy by saying “I am” instead of “I have”. > > Neither ADD nor Asperger’s Syndrome has been in the public awareness long enough to really have settled on a preferred usage. It will eventually. Doctors and other professionals will continue to speak of the disorders in formal medical terminology, the rest of us will find a usage that falls off the lips more easily than the others and conveys the meaning we wish, and someone somewhere will be annoyed with it. It’s the Circle of Life. > > Or do you guys correct people when they say they’re nauseous by telling them they’re actually nauseated? LOL. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/56 "2011-06-14T13:46:20Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Guys, it’s called [metonymy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy) - where one part or characteristic stands in for the whole - and it’s a perfectly valid form of metaphor and figure of speech. We do it all the time in other circumstances THANK YOU! You just saved me a long post. So I’ll shorten it: I hear what they (people who want us to use the Sally has \_\_\_\_, rather than Sally’s \_\_\_\_ form) are saying, but I don’t buy it. Anyone smart enough to anticipate the psychological implications of being depersonalized by a reference to a disease process is smart enough to understand a figure of fucking speech. When I’m talking to a 4 year old or a person incapable of anything but concrete speech, I’m more word-aware, but the rest of us can handle it because we’re not stupid delicate snowflakes. > [@](#): > > Or do you guys correct people when they say they’re nauseous by telling them they’re actually nauseated? Heh. You new here? Of COURSE this has been bickered about on the SDMB! [More](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295453&highlight=nauseated+nauseous+grammar) [than](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295470&highlight=nauseated+nauseous+grammar) [once](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295470&highlight=nauseated+nauseous+grammar). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/57 "2011-06-14T14:34:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I crazy. Y U mad ? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/58 "2011-06-14T15:53:47Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Of course not, nauseous is an adjective, meaning “afflicted with nausea”. On the other hand, no one goes around saying “I’m especially nausea today, guys”, “She’s nausea”, and so forth. [Huh.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nauseous) Oh well, looks like the barbarians are winning another round, then. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/59 "2011-06-14T16:50:30Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > People with accents different than your own may still be (and _are_, in the quoted example) saying the words correctly. You’re not _hearing_ it properly. Ahh yes, silly me, not knowing that _ **liberry** _ is an accepted standard English pronunciation of my profession and place of work. I am shamed. :rolleyes: I’ve lived in the south all my life, and can in fact speak with various southern accents at will, and I know what people are saying. I don’t have problems with people with hugely distorted accents or regionalisms - I wouldn’t fault someone speaking Gullah for saying “dey” for they. These are people who speak otherwise perfectly intelligible standard English, saying (and quite often _spelling_) words incorrectly because they don’t know what they are, and they’re getting as close as they can without bothering to check with someone as to the correct spelling or pronunciation. If there is a medical condition that you are worried about, it seems to me that you would bother to find out the correct definition, pronunciation, and spelling of said condition in standard English usage, in order to find the best and most reliable information about it. To not do so indicates laziness or nonchalance, and I really don’t think that’s the impression people are trying to give. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288/60 "2011-06-14T18:32:33Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Even that’s not PC, according to the APA. You would say “she’s an autistic person.” Or “she has autism.” I work with autistic adults at our day programs for the last 19 years. My youngest son is autistic. No complaints, no PC issues thus far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-arent-aspergers-they-have-aspergers/585288.md?page=4)