But is it used to describe someone who is a klutz like it is in the U.S.? Or maybe an offensive name to call the mentally disabled?
Who was it that said that England and the U.S. are seperated by a common language? We’ll keep spaz and fanny. Bloody can still mean gory to us. Y’all can keep fag.
Living in Canada, I’ve honestly never heard “Spaz” or “spastic” used to describe people with cerebral palsy. “Spaz” just means, well, a spaz; in my experience it was usually applied to either someone who was clumsy, or someone prone to really freaking out with a temper tantrum, like Steve Stemareens, who we called Steve Spazzareems because if things did not go his way in a road hockey game he’d hurl himself to the ground and just go berzerk.
It might be hideously offensive in the UK, but I’m quite certain Woods was referring to clumsiness, not a physical disability.
[QUOTE=Biggirl]
But is it used to describe someone who is a klutz like it is in the U.S.? Or maybe an offensive name to call the mentally disabled?
[quote]
It just means someone who screws things up. Nothing more.
For the record, I despise media outlets which bowdlerize things, give dishonest or misleading translations, etc. People curse. Get over it.
“Spaz” is as offensive as “nigger”? That is so retarded.
I am now hearing the “Spaz…Spaz…Spaz…” chant from Meatballs in my head.
It is supposed to be a derogatory term to be aimed at someone who’s just done something physically inept, but it’s not so much offensive to the person it’s aimed at (assuming they don’t actually have cerebral palsy), but rather to the group it disparages by association (i.e. those who do have CP). Basically it has the same meaning as it does for you, but with an extra, nastier twang.
The unspoken assumption in this statement is that the LA Times has some connection to “journalism.” I can assure you that the only thing that the LA Times invariably reports correctly is whether there is a sale at the Robinsons-May. Since approximately 80% of the paper is advertising, they take their business very, very seriously.
If the LA Times indeed changed the word, my guess is that they couldn’t figure out how to spell it, not because they believed it to be offensive.
And this is the first I’ve ever heard of “mongo”. We call Down’s Syndrome folk, uh, we don’t have a name for them–we say they have “Down’s”.
People with dementia who get confused at noc are often called (in health care) “sundowners” but we have no equivalent “Downer’s” for DS people.
Mongoloid is an OLD name for DS–and is not used here in the US.
I have great potential to be a spaz, although I am less of a klutz than a spaz. (spaz to me includes some psychological aspects, unlike klutz, which is pure clumsiness). Teens spaz out alot, as do 2 year olds when they don’t get their way. Older women sometimes spaz out when the bank teller counts out their money incorrectly, etc.
It’s funny. The sports columnists always complain about how the athletes are all carefully vetted and never say anything interesting in interviews any more.
Thanks for the, er, straight dope. Still bizarre, but, as Dead Badger says - good name, by the way - maybe the Times has an Angloscientic, if not -philic, sub-editor.
That’s what’s been running through my head throughout the whole thread. And it’s been decades since I saw that movie.
ooh–snap!
Spazz, as some has said, is a derogatory shortening of ‘spastic’ and was generally deemed offensive when I was growing up. I find the US use offensive as it still seems to come from ‘spastic’, even if it means ‘klutz’.
But as I said - I think this is an age thing. I’m sure kids in this country use it without any qualms.
Totally. I had no idea this was a derogatory term somewhere. I equated it to spaz = nerd, since Tiger’s buddies at Stanford nicknamed him Urkel. Of the 8 or 9 online news articles (SI.com, etc), including the two local newspapers, all shortened the quote to “I was a total spaz, I putted atrociously”.
Using spaz as a noun just heightens the link to ‘spastic’ in my ears. ‘I putted like a total spastic.’ ‘He danced like a total nigger’.
But square brackets, when used like this, are meant to help the writer clarify something or convey a meaning that might have been lost if the original words were used.
In this case, the writer had no need to fill in a blank space in order to help convey meaning. The word that Woods used conveyed all the meaning that was necessary, and substituting another word changed the original without adding anything useful. It was poor journalistic practice, and dishonest.
Agreed. And count me in with people who don’t think of it as offensive. I understand the word’s origins, and I don’t use it because I know it’s offensive to some people, but to me it would seem bizarre to use “spastic” to describe someone with cerebral palsy. I know that used to be a common usage, but at least in the U.S. I think we’re several decades out from the word having any current connection to the disease.
Which is not to say I think people need to get over it. I don’t think the phrase “nigger-rigged” is okay if you’re not using it literally to describe something crafted by a black person. Still, I don’t think “spaz” is generally regarded as a major insult in the U.S. and I had no idea of its original meaning until a few years back. Editing Tiger Woods’ phrase might have made sense if he’d used a really, really bad word but protecting his reputation from his own use of insensitive language seems very dubious to me.
“It burns like a fag.”
Equating the US use of “spastic” to “nigger” is, frankly, stupid. It’s like saying the British are homophobic because they call their cigarettes “fags”. No one has called cerebral palsy sufferers “spastic” in DECADES…there’s simply no cognitive connection between CP and “spastic” in most people’s minds here. It just doesn’t mean that.
If you want to call this taking umbrage. From the link–
Shouldn’t he be like, you know, pissed off or angry or something to take him some umbrage?
As others have noted, “spaz” is a pretty mild term around here, not nearly on a par with phrases that invoke racial stereotypes.
As far as I can see, tagos is only referring to his personal perception of the word, and is not condemning anyone in the US for using a word neither they nor any of their peers find offensive. He’s just illustrating how it appears to UK eyes, and his example is pretty apposite (although I do think “nigger” is, and always has been, a lot more offensive even in the UK).
If they call you a dork, a spaz or a geek
Stand up for your rights; don’t be meek!
Beautiful people, mark my words -
The time has come for Revenge of the Nerds