Geary_maize

May 16th, 2012 at 10:47 PM ^

I don't know man, I've seen some retarded stuff go down on Friday nights, usually related to alcohol. But maybe thats just what it takes to knock the dumb out of people though.

bluewave720

May 16th, 2012 at 11:19 PM ^

That's the phrase you were looking for instead of the term "retarded."  I mean, come on, I'm not the PC police, but everybody knows you can't say "retarded."

Also of note, when checking with what is PC, you can't call a girl (edit - or guy) a "slut" anymore either.  It's "sexual arts aficionado."  I'm not making that up.  http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Sexual+arts+aficionado

Flying Dutchman

May 16th, 2012 at 11:53 PM ^

I would like this esteemed group to consider amending this definition of slut to "sexual arts ENTHUSIAST" vs aficionado.  I feel that aficionado refers to an acquired technical proficiency, whereas enthusiast is a slut that just likes getting some.  

Could be six of one, half dozen of another, but the little buzz I have on compelled me to weigh in.

Ni-night...

ScruffyTheJanitor

May 17th, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^

 

First off, I don't care what the "medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com" tells me. Trying to tell people how to choose their words often creates a hightened impression of the meaning of said word. Usually that is bad because it makes one word less acceptable; in this case, it only serves to make "slut" all that much more affective. 

Off that, making it so that people can't say "retarded" is not very realistic, and I am not only meaning that people will say it regaurdless. There has been a regressive attempt to ameliorate that condition, and everyone of them has been turned into slang: "Retarded", "Slow", "Sepcial (needs)." The word has gained a new meaning. It is simply an interchangable word for "stupid". I know it seems much worse written down than it does spoken between friends, but I don't know why we have to reinforce that. Retarded at its worst simply means "cognitavly impared", and applying some terrible connotative meaning to  the former that forces us to use unnatural language. In other words, the reason you say "cognitavly impared" is because the word "retarded" has shifted its meaning slightly. However, swapping the newer, more technichal term is far less precise-- and, in many ways, more cruel-- than just leaving it as is. I know the issue is that saying "retarded" feels like using the mentally impared as a standard of intelligence, but in reality it is used often enough that the connotation isn't always as direct as it seems, and is very noticable when written. 

On a side note, I need to drink less coffee. 

Seth

May 22nd, 2012 at 8:36 AM ^

In most cases I find PC justifiable. The one part I have trouble with is whatever the latest word is for cognitive impairment. My brother's ex-girlfriend has a brother who's severely mentally handicapped, which is term she preferred to use. I had a very hard time when they were dating of remembering to not say "retarded." That's because when I first started school, in the '80s, "retarded" was what everyone said. At that time it was merely a shortened version of "mentally retarded," which was what we were told to say in order to be PC instead of "dumb" or "stupid." And those used to be technical terms too, because "fool"  was mean. And "fool" was originally a nice way of saying "idiot," which was once the nice way of saying ...

Go back through language history and there are a lot of words to refer to someone with a severe mental handicap, because people, especially young people, are always on the lookout for a way to hyperbolize in language the idiocy of a not well thought through idea. Retarded just means slowed, because the nice word "slow" became pejorative.

Kids will ALWAYS do this, no matter how uncommunicable of a word you come up with for it. When they decided to call the class "Special Education" it took the popular kids a month to call a kid "Special Ed" and within a year we had the terms "Sped" and "Sped-monkey." When "mentally handicapped" debuted, kids said "handis" or the more British "mental," as in "you're completely mental!" That's from mentally handicapped!

My generation spent a good 20 years saying "retarded" before it became a big no-no. I understand it's offensive and have tried to not use it because of that, but the hard-wired part of language in my brain uses that as the go-to hyperbolic for calling something dumb and therefore when I'm not consciously avoiding it, that word slips out. My cousins' kids are shocked by this. They think it's worse than dropping an f-bomb (they're just 14 years younger).

If "cognitively impaired" is now the proper term, I bet you all the money in my pockets* that kids are already calling each other "cogs" or "coggies," not because it's funny to make fun of the mentally handicapped, but because in a free society we discuss lots and lots of ideas, and therefore our language requires a rich body of hyperbolic metaphors to convey exclamatory judgments on ideas.

So I get why teachers (mostly it's teachers) are constantly coming up with new words to use for people with actual mental deficiencies, so that these kids don't have to walk down the hall hearing something that applies to them used as pejorative. On the other hand, it's a battle they will lose every single time, because language functions on the same principle as evolution, a force far stronger than mankind can actually harness.

--------

* I'm a blogger--underwear doesn't have pockets Mwuahahahaha!

MaizeMN

May 16th, 2012 at 11:06 PM ^

its sompin they puts yn the blimpy burgers coz i hasnt had 1 in a few yeers an i dont feelz kwite the saym as i dids in mi UM daze.

UMdad

May 17th, 2012 at 7:58 AM ^

I couldn't agree more.  While I am college educated, advanced education is often a product of circumstance.  Many people cannot afford to go to school for an undergrad education, much less a post graduate degree.  Some of the smartest people I have ever known either did not go to college at all or stopped with a bachelor's degree, and some of the dumbest people I have ever known I met while at MIchigan. 

joeyb

May 17th, 2012 at 11:20 AM ^

I have no idea. Probably Ann Arbor, but that's coming from a list that includes Ann Arbor, Flint, Grand Blanc, Waterford, Farmington, and Camarillo, CA. I haven't exactly explored the most intellectual cities.

Hugh Jass

May 17th, 2012 at 12:40 AM ^

the last time I was in A2 I felt more intellectual.  I started using big words, most of them correctly even.  Ann Arbor is indeed the smartest city in the world.

Jasper

May 17th, 2012 at 7:00 AM ^

Meanwhile, some (certainly not all) residents of Berkeley and Cambridge congratulated themselves for not living in The Midwest, where everyone has meat and potatoes for dinner and sushi is nowhere to be found, etc.

m0ediggity

May 17th, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^

People in Berkeley and Cambridge don't eat sushi either!  

In Berkeley, they only eat tofu and alfalfa sprouts.  In Cambridge, people only eat baked beans and clam chowder.

In Ann Arbor, we prefer coneys over meat and potatoes -- those dishes are really the fare of people who live in Texas and Idaho.  And our coneys are different from those of our Midwestern bretheren.  In Cincinnati, they're even a different size!

Of course, if you want sushi, you have to go to Japan.

U Fer M

May 17th, 2012 at 7:32 AM ^

Being born and raised in A2, lived there for almost 20 years, but not since the 80's. Would have to say A2 isn't what it used to be. Still a great place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there anymore.  I agree as well with the statement that it may be the most educated, but smartest? That is up for debate. Ever watch a PhD in Physics try to haggle down the price of used car in Dearborn? Got owned by a dude with a GED. Just sayin'.

Mr. Robot

May 17th, 2012 at 8:12 AM ^

Thinking about how smart the people of Ann Arbor are suppose to be just makes me wonder why everybody in this county is so bad at driving. You'd think turn signals were rigged to bombs in all the cars.

Then again, maybe I just haven't been living here long enough to be driven completely insane by the complete lack of respect pedestrians and bike riders have for large moving metal objects.

TatuajeVI

May 17th, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^

So true. Anytime I'm driving in AA with someone who is from "anywhere but Ann Arbor" I have to explain to them that cross-walks are magically extended to the entire city. On a related note, walking out in front of traffic without any fear of getting run over is not a good idea outside of Ann Arbor.