Pillock. Nerd.

[Oldelpaso]

Pillock. Nerd. Spastic. Moron.

There's plenty of interesting ones at Soviet Poster A Day

[Fatter Hipper]

Pillock. Nerd. Spastic. Moron.

That Bolsheviks thing has to be fake. The font over the picture looks too crisp and too computerised. The curves of the question mark look rather pixellated. Could be the scan though, I suppose. There's no mention of Bolsheviks in the (less crisp) type underneath the picture, either.

Chinese Space Propaganda is very monged:

[Balderdasha]

Why did the images in the first post survive the years but none of the other ones in the rest of the thread?

[ursus arctos]

It depends on where they are hosted.

The same thing happens with links.

[Satchmo Distel]

Thread title is probably NSFW.

In my experience, Americans (at least in Florida) still haven't got the message about 'spastic' unless they're the affected community. 'Retard' OTOH I think is now established as an extreme slur.

[ursus arctos]

I think that applies to much of the country in both respects.

[Satchmo Distel]

'Moron' slipping by might be because society has forgotten its original role in eugenics. Jilted John would not have been able to have a record played on the radio using 'spastic' even in 1978, and Ian Dury was banned for using the word in a non-offensive context.

[DCI Harry Batt]

So when did the thread title get changed?

[Balderdasha]

So when did the thread title get changed?

Today, soon after I revived it.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Cool. Just kinda curious.

[Wouter D]

In my experience, Americans (at least in Florida) still haven't got the message about 'spastic' unless they're the affected community.

Just today, news broke out that Lizzo hadn't got the message yet either. Once it was pointed out to her, she took the appropriate actions.

[Satchmo Distel]

I initially misheard the word 'spy' as that in Bette Davis Eyes, partly because of how Karnes pronounces it. I was only 14, though, in my defence.

See also "cuss" and "c**t" in Happy Talk, which to be fair is just lazy listening because Captain Sensible's diction is fine and it rhymes with "us".

[Sam]

Weird Al Yankovic used 'spastic' in 'Word Crimes' a few years ago, and I found it really jarring given he is generally held up as being such a Nice Guy.

[diggedy derek]

Does the ablist word sp*** have different connotations in the US? I ask, as one of my favourite radio stations has a DJ with the word in his official DJ name.

That sort of professional name is inconceivable here

[Jimski]

I initially misheard the word 'spy' as that in Bette Davis Eyes, partly because of how Karnes pronounces it. I was only 14, though, in my defence..

Hah, me too. I was just 10, so even more of a defence!

[ursus arctos]

Does the ablist word sp*** have different connotations in the US? I ask, as one of my favourite radio stations has a DJ with the word in his official DJ name.

That sort of professional name is inconceivable here

It isn't associated with a particular malady here.

When I was a kid, it was regularly used as a somewhat more insulting version of "clumsy" or "ungainly", but its usage (for any purpose) has been receding for decades.

[diggedy derek]

Cheers for that UA.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

It used to be quite the go to insult when I was in school, though the rebranding of the charity had clearly already happened as it was only much later when I found out that it had once been a medical term. More surprised again to hear a doctor use the term to describe my colon, but it literally means "has spasms". I think it's one of those words plucked from the medical sphere, that should just be returned there, and left for specific and highly limited usage

[WOM]

It isn't associated with a particular malady here.

When I was a kid, it was regularly used as a somewhat more insulting version of "clumsy" or "ungainly".

Same. It, like 'gypped', has virtually zero currency here as anything offensive with regard to being associated with anyone.

[dddd]

I don't understand the first postcard in the thread. 'Spot the odd one out'? Two are offensive, two aren't. What am I missing?

[DCI Harry Batt]

It was 1994 that The Spastic Society changed its name. I guess they hadn't understood the ablist nature of "moron" at that time.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I don't understand the first postcard in the thread. 'Spot the odd one out'? Two are offensive, two aren't. What am I missing?

It's probably that "moron" is now seen as a much more offensive term than it was when the postcard was produced. Back then its etymology wasn't considered and it was treated simply as another synonym for a stupid person.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I think also that more people now realise how rotten it is to use insults based on perceived intellectual ability and capacity. So they wouldn't just replace one ableist term (moron) with another (stupid person).

[sw2borshch]

I initially misheard the word 'spy' as that in Bette Davis Eyes, partly because of how Karnes pronounces it. I was only 14, though, in my defence.

See also "cuss" and "c**t" in Happy Talk, which to be fair is just lazy listening because Captain Sensible's diction is fine and it rhymes with "us".

An excuse to post (Familie) Silly on East German telly doing their cover of Bette Davis Eis...

https://youtu.be/1PkKkGXcROQ