"Person with a disability" (again) Oh no...

Gah I'm breaking my own rule to avoid serious discussions here again, oh heck. Sorry to bring this tired topic up again but I came across a website recently that addresses basically the same topic we discussed in a past thread...

http://www.blind.net/bpg00005.htm

They make a pretty good case against "political correctness" here, and I totally feel compelled to agree with this position. "Shell shock" turns to "combat fatigue" to "post traumatic stress disorder"....wha? Shock turns into fatigue, which turns into....stress?? Is war only "stress"?

I don't think this is going to convince anyone one way or the other, because I think most people who've given this some amount of thought have mostly made up their minds and won't ever change them. But I think it's clear that there's a very extreme difference of opinion among people on this issue that won't ever go away (or at least within the next 50 years or something).

My question is...what do we tell those who prefer straightforward language as opposed to politically correct language, when they are being referred to? (i.e.) What about those who PREFER to be called "blind" rather than "A visually impaired person" when they feel insulted by *that* language?

Good for him!

He correctly points out the kind of inverted prejudice that these kind of euphemisms connote. In my view, apart from doing violence to the language, they reveal an underlying unpleasantness.

I posting OT - I must be annoyed at my script.

Worse still, the bold new euphemisms rapidly take on the old connotations of stigma and need to be cycled out often. Witness "crippled" -> "handicapped" -> "differently abled" -> "challenged" and (just an observer here) "colored" -> "negro" -> "black" -> "person of color" -> "african american". I have heard reports from a local public school district that tried to hide ability tracking behind meaningless names - birds in this case. Quoth one 8-year-old "oh, don't take her seriously, she's a *robin*". The distinctions persist no matter what you call it, prejudice is as human as ummm... war and xenophobia.

The bi-ga-la community took the right tack with this: they took a derogatory term "queer" and turned it into a badge of pride and took the wind out of the sails of those who would use it to hurt.

Now I'm just looking for a euphemism for "SL griefer"

Really though, it disturbs me how people feel the need to euphemize everything.
I got news for you. This is the world. This is how we are, this is how you are. Call it by its name. If you can't handle the truth about you, you're a weakling. You can either try to make it not true anymore, or kill yourself and do us all a favor by ridding the gene pool of your uselessness.
Ok, I know this sounds a little cruel but jeez, is it that hard to develop a little strength of character? Being blunt is often a very good thing. It means you are honest, sincere and trustworthy. Ok, sometimes it just means you're an ass who likes torturing people but I haven't met many of those, thank goodness.
This is part of the reason why I'm trying to lose weight
Most of my life it didn't really bother me that I was fat, heck sometimes I even had a certain pride in it. When it DID begin to bother me, well, I decided to do something about it, and 20 pounds later I feel SO much better. Can't wait to shed it all
Bottom line is, you should love yourself as you are. If you do, then surely a lot of other people will

I was having a similar discussion with a friend the other day, not about handicapped people but just the moronic ways we abuse the english language. Why is shit considered profanity but poop is cute and acceptable? They both mean the same thing!! People get too hung up on semantics and ignore meaning. It's bizarre. There's a million examples like that. All I can figure is that there's two possibilities to explain it... either it's the actual sound of certain words that people find offensive or (far more likely) people just enjoy self righteous indignation no matter how hypocritical it is.

My mom is Handicapped, not differently-abled, or challenged.
She has multiple sclerosis which has reduced her to being confined to a wheelchair all the time and limited use of her hands.

Dfferently-abled does not suit her because she did not grow up this way.
Challenged may fit, but who in this world isn't challenged in some way.
Crippled might fit, but I think she's way past walking with a cane (which it implies to me).

I also use Disabled because it fits - she was able to do things and now she's not.

I think when you start using 'nice' labels for everything it gives you a reason not to address the real problem, person, or thing. Easier just to let stuff slide.

Ok what the heck is going on...I wasn't expecting so much agreement, what happened to the people who felt differently about this? I'm not just being a Troller here, I'm genuinely curious to know what differences in opinion are causing disagreement here.

I doubt I'll ever change my opinion about PC language, but I try to stay open minded as much as I can...

Chip,

The difference between 'shit' and 'poop' is that 'shit' is a word that has been used for some 500 years, and has a long and dignified history. 'Poop' is a nursery term.

When looking at euphemisms, an interesting history is that of the lavatory. The original word, I believe, was 'privy'. Then came 'water closet', following the demise of the earth closet. But 'water closet' began to seem not very nice, so after 'WC' went the same way, people started talking, among a whole scattering of various jocular euphemisms about the 'lavatory'. Then, when that began to be seen by those of tender sensibility to be rather too blunt, it changed, during my lifetime, into 'toilet'. But unfortunately the same thing happened to 'toilet' as 'lavatory', and people felt it was a little too unrefined. So the term 'loo' was introduced. Now 'loo' has become somewhat tainted as well.

Perhaps now is the time to go back to 'privy'.

You missed "rest room"! Or just mens/ladies room!

The little weirdos' room.

Ahh, all the different names for the bog. (There's another! English term. It's not a politically correct one though, more of a description of what goes in than anything else...)

A highly agreeable article, I like it. I've always agreed that by going to such trouble skirting the issue and avoiding mentioning a disability, it's probably even more insulting to the disabled people, making their disability seem like something they should be ashamed of and shouldn't be attributed to them. There's no shame in being blind, deaf, whatever and anyone with a brain and a heart would realise that there is a unique person like anyone else behind the disability no matter what name is attributed them.

The Bog! lol I like that one, I wish it was used over here.

There's an old crappy 80's movie that had "The Bog of Eternal Stench"....hehehe.

I liked that movie!
It had David Bowie and Muppets!
what more can you ask for?

It was "Labyrinth"

Hehe, I say crappy because well....it's from the 80's. The 80's... I mean, come on. LOOK AT THE HAIR! But yeah I guess it was an O.K. movie.

Don't you find it all a little absurd? If people associate a word with something bad that isn't part of the literal definition of the word then that came from inside their own head, not from the word itself. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go use the pooatorium.

Chip,

Hey, that's a good one. From now on 'pooatorium' will become part of my vocabulary.

Yes, of course it's absurd. It's part of the general violence we do to our language.

On another thread I mentioned how the British culture was currently being swamped by the American. We have now got used to the idea of Americans going to the 'bathroom' to relieve themselves, bizarre as it once seemed, and now we are beginning to adopt the term ourselves. I've only noticed it in advertising, but of course once it starts there it gets everywhere.

The first day I saw lavatory paper being advertised as 'bathroom tissue' I felt I was on another planet!

OK??!??!?! *sets Garoad on fire* That's what you get

Yeah we're exporting some of our "bad culture" elements as well as trade goods.

Dionysus,
Sorry, my hair won't catch fire.... I don't have a gallon of hair spray in my hair like they did in the 80's.

I think you might be right about the one sided nature of american culture. I don't think many here will start asking strangers if they can pinch a fag It annoys me how languages morph, but it fascinates me at the same time.

Jennifer Connelly.
Crazy Giant Muppets.
A live action dog as one of the muppets horses.

C'mon people, this is the stuff dreams are made of. Labyrinth is one of the classics of our generation.

And the bog of eternal stench. A farting cesspool. What could be more glorious to my taboo sensitive ears at that age. Spectacular.

And yes, Garoud, David Bowie did have crazy hair in that movie, but it wasn't because it was the 80's. It was because he was a muppet. I mean, look at the guy

Chip,

<<I don't think many here will start asking strangers if they can pinch a fag >>

... and if you used rhyming slang, an asked if you could half-inch one, it would sound even worse!

haha

I guess...

But the 80's....omg the hair.. it's a shameful period of US history.

As for the original topic, I know Bhodi (+ others I thought?) was a big supporter of the alternate wording, but I guess either she doesn't want to get involved again or she's not reading lately. Oh well, I guess I'll have to ask the question somewhere else.