"Cretins"

[treibeis]

Sorry, wrong thread.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Yeah, we should definitely not be using words like that.

I've been consciously trying, over the last year or so, to eliminate from my vocabulary any language that could be construed as ableist - both those related to physical or mental disability ("cretin", "idiot", "moron" etc), and those associated with pyschiatric disorders ("psychopath", "sociopath", "insane", "mental", "mad") but also stuff without clinically-defined etymologies but that are clearly also ableist in sense ("crazy", "crank", "stupid", "dumb", "lame").

Doing this has sort of hit home how many of our insults or dismissive remarks take a form that links people's value as a person to their mental and physical capacity and health. It's also kinda interesting cos if you can't just dismiss something or someone as "stupid" you have to actually articulate yourself better - cos there's only so many times you can substitute "ridiculous" for <ableist slur>.

I don't know, there's a really good chance that in this modern world of ours, if you're calling someone a psychopath or a sociopath, there's a reallly good chance you're using it in the proper context.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

I don't know, there's a really good chance that in this modern world of ours, if you're calling someone a psychopath or a sociopath, there's a reallly good chance you're using it in the proper context.

Neither "psychopath" nor "sociopath" are proper medical terminology ("Antisocial Personality Disorder" and "Dissocial Personality Disorder" are about as close as you're gonna get). Implying that someone has a personality disorder without good evidence stigmatises others and provides excuses to the person you're insulting. And like even if you were right, is it right to use a serious mental disorder as an insult?

[Satchmo Distel]

"Moron" is discredited because IIRC it was used in eugenics ("moron scale"). "Retard" and "imbecile" would be similarly offensive terms because of their past abuse in psychiatry as well as in popular culture. Basil Fawlty used the word "cretins" frequently so perhaps that took longer to be frowned upon. "Idiot" was in the California Legal Code until 2007, so some terms became regarded as offensive later than others.

[Fussbudget]

'Le cretin des Alpes' was used by visiting French posh types to describe Alpine populations of little intelligence (from their point of view) and describing them essentially simpletons.

'Crétin des Alpes' is my parents' nickname for my brother for some reason (he is not from the Alps.)

[ursus arctos]

Your reasons for emigrating have never been in doubt

[ursus arctos]

Satchmo, I'm somewhat surprised that California suppressed the term, given that "idiot", "imbecile" and "lunatic" continue to feature in the primary section of New York's Penal Law dealing with criminal responsibility.

[sw2borshch]

I'm now intrigued as to what Fussbudget's parents' nickname for me is.

Among many many things in hip-hop records that I love that I find troubling is the phrasing 'getting retarded' meaning, as far as I can tell, messing about for a crack/craic.