Corona | Coming Attractions

Short Bus and Corky usually suffice as retard substitutes.

It's strange, though, that I'm WAY more offended by people using gay to describe something as lame than I am by people using retarded to describe something slow or moronic.

Scarlet wrote:

The censorship of that word is pointless. The word means slow. For instance, I call many of my past love interests emotionally retarded.

It's all about context. Saying "the growth of the Japanese iris has been retarded by the delay of the rainy season" differs from saying "I doubt that retard is capable of doing simple math." The latter could clearly be taken as an offense more easily than the former.

Censorship of "retard[ed]" is probably at least a little less pointless than censorship of "niggardly."

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kah wrote:

Short Bus and Corky usually suffice as retard substitutes.

I don't know if switching to a code word that clearly refers to something that will bring a person's mind back to mental retardation is the way to go. In the case of "short bus," while it may do the symbolic job of evoking "retard," it isn't necessarily appropriate. Many schools use the short bus not only for the educationally challenged, but also for students with physical disabilities. My high school used it for both these purposes in the mornings, and then used it again after lunch to transport kids to trade school. (We called it "trade school." I'm not sure what it was called outside of the south. Vocational school? It's where mechanically inclined kids went to apprentice as welders, mechanics, carpenters, et cetera.) It was also used to take gifted kids on field trips.

All these kids--the educationally challenged, the educationally gifted, the trade schoolers, and the physically disabled--technically fall under the "special education" rubric, since training beyond a standard educational degree is required to handle them. This may change soon, since many, many cuts have been made to special education programs, and since there's a strong push to integrate all students.

A fair chunk of my maternal family is currently, or has recently been, in the special education business. My mother was a special education instructor for twenty years, and was a trade school instructor for ten. Her sister (the one I call "Aunt Niece," because, hey, I grew up in the south; also, I'm really calling her "'Nise," because her full first name is Denise) is still in special education, and has been since 1984. My current stepfather drove the "short bus" for about ten years. I was my mother's aide for all six of my years in high school. (High school in my area started in seventh grade.)

We've all had to deal with a lot of the stereotypes and prejudices--or, rather, we've all been put in the position of helping special needs students deal with these things. I realize "retard" seems like a fairly innocuous word when it gets thrown around among friends, but I can promise you the majority of the kids my family and I worked with knew its meaning. Some could brush it off, but others were very hurt by it. They wouldn't even have to be the target of the word, themselves. I've comforted multiple kids--some of them my mother's students, some of them close friends and relatives of mine--after an encounter with the word. In some cases, I've comforted kids who overheard a "normal" kid getting called a "retard." They understood the "normal" kid was being compared to people like them, and that people like them were perceived to be somewhat less than human.

I can see the parallel between "retard" and "nigger," and I can see why some people don't think these words should be used. I can also see why some people think they should be overused to help combat the stigma of their usage. Neither word offends me, personally, and I have used both in certain social situations. I don't call for either word to be dropped from the language, but I do think approaching the usage of them with some caution can be a good thing. You never know what another person's history with the words may be.

One of the Kennedys (technically a Shriver) was on the Colbert Report, recently, advocating the abandonment of the "R Word." Even though he never brought it up, I'm guessing Rosemary Kennedy's past has something to do with why he went into special education. Her history is a ghastly one. If you don't know anything about her and what happened to her in 1941, you ought to look her up on Wikipedia.

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Using "Corky" as a synonym for "retard" can get tricky, since Down syndrome is its own thing, and isn't really a good blanket term for all mentally challenged people. Down syndrome is often unfairly made the "face" of retardation because a chromosomal irregularity gives people with Down syndrome similar physical traits--among them the enlarged tongue that can compromise their ability to speak clearly.

Although the physical and mental development of a person with Down syndrome differs from the "average" person's (in that it is typically lower), a person with Down syndrome can have an IQ in the lower end of the average range. In these cases, the person Down syndrome would not be considered "mentally retarded" inasmuch as mental retardation has traditionally been used to describe people with an IQ below 70. (1. This may no longer be true. I invite anyone to research it and find out for me. 2. This may also only have ever been true in the U.S. I don't know anything about other countries' standards.)

While I don't know Chris Burke's IQ (Chris Burke played Corky), I do know he has performed in bands, has written scripts, reads books (specifically, he reads books that were not written at level intended for people with low IQs), and is capable of memorizing dialog without having to have it fed to him line by line. The ability to do these things suggests he may have an IQ high enough not to be considered the IQ of a person considered to be mentally retarded. You could argue that his Down syndrome has retarded his mental development with a little semantics, but saying he's mentally retarded in that regard differs from saying he's mentally retarded in the sense of having an IQ below 70.

Again, I know nothing of Chris Burke's IQ. I'm also of the opinion that IQ tests are inexact and uneven, and that they have been used to pigeonhole people unfairly.

I should also mention that I am fully aware that Chris Burke is not Corky, and that the character of Corky may have been designed to represent a Down syndrome person with an IQ below 70.

I should *also" mention that the above reflects my personal experience with the word, and that I don't necessarily begrudge people their usage of the word (as long as they aren't using it maliciously).  I'm pretty sure I communicated that above, but figured I'd stress it in a separate post.  (Also, a separate post helps me inflate my post count, which is of utmost importance to me.)

Sometimes, the hypersensitivity attached to the use of specific words seems dumb, and other times it seems warranted.  I try to consider it anew on a case-by-case basis.  For the most part, though, I try to avoid calling people (or their actions) retarded.

I should also mention I don't actually use those words except in close company with my friends to be an asshole.  I'm not actually that insensitive, or think that people deserve to be called names because of circumstances they have no control of.  My cousin has a daughter with Down's and is pregnant with another child that has about a 75 percent chance of being born with it.   It runs in her husband's family, and yet they denied having the test done when she was pregnant with their first child, denied it with this pregnancy, and are just happy to have a healthy, happy child. 

Now, I'd like to think that I would be as awesome as she is, but I'm not.  I also denied having the test done because I didn't want to know so I wouldn't have to make the choice to terminate or raise a child with Down's.  I don't actually know what I would've done if I'd had to make the choice.  (also, if I remember correctly, there was a pretty high percentage of false positives which scared me enough to not want to take the test) In my experience, the women I know with children with health and mental issues just seem to step up in ways I couldn't imagine.  The common phrase "God only gives you what you can handle", as misinterpreted and trite as that can be, sometimes it holds true.  My ex's sister spent 2 months in the hospital with her second child because her OB missed the hole in his aorta in her 5 ultrasounds, so when he was born, he lost blood supply to his lower half as the hospital (that didn't have a NICU) was unaware of any issues and didn't catch the problem immediately when his legs turned grey.  That led to 2 major surgeries involving removing his large bowel and I forget what else.  That little baby had a colostomy bag for almost a year.  THEN, there ended up being genetic issues (which was the underlying cause for the hole), and they suffered through this boy's surgeries to straighten his legs.  OMG.  Just insane.  They were told when he was born that he would likely never walk, nor speak.  He walks like a baby t-rex, but he walks, and talks just fine.  Of course, he is still tube fed (at 5 years old) because there are problems with his esphogas (is this getting ridiculous yet?  there's more, but since the ex and I broke up a couple years ago, I'm not entirely in the loop on the medical procedures).  And yet when he was about a year and a half old, she and her husband decided they still wanted another child.  My immediate thought was "how in the fuck are you going to take care of 3! children when your second child requires so much care?"  The first year of his life was doctor visits 2-3 times a week after the initial 2 month hospital stay, not to mention the physical therapy and subsequent surgeries.  I thought their healthy children would be neglected and it was unfair of them to have more kids with so much on their plates already. 

And you know, they are the most successful parents I know.  They have 3 happy children, the ex's sis made it through school to become an RN during all this (dad stayed at home with the kids) and they're owners of their 3rd house (because they made a profit during the housing bubble, one that costs them almost nothing).  They are happy with the simplest things in life, namely their children, and make me look like a slacker in comparison.

I forget now why I went on that tangent.....  Anyways- 

cock

I used the phrase "total Bell-End" again this weekend to describe somebody.  I also used the phrase "a little bit Essex" to describe the clientele of a bar I found myself in.

I call annoying drivers "retards". They can't actually hear me say it though. I wish they could.

kah wrote:

cock

I got some for ya.

I believe that I may have, once or twice, mentioned that I thought KV's love of musicals was a bit gay.

I always thought his love of cock was kind of gay.

I use the phrase "That's totally gay" and similar quite a lot.  I do hope it doesn't offend any of my gay friends or colleagues.  I have also, on occasion, accused friends of behaving "like a giant gaybo" or "turning into one of the gays".

Similarly, I don't get upset when one of my gay friends tells me I have the interior design skills of a straight boy.

It's easy not to be offended as part of the dominant heterosexual male crowd.

Frequently it is in reference to a positive stereotype, such as:

"That was a fabulous dinner party you just threw, you massive gaybo!"

"You look incredibly well dressed, immaculately groomed and you smell amazing.  Are you sure you aren't one of the gays?"

We don't really have many offensive terms for straight people. "Breeders" usually suffices.

I suppose you could argue that "Straight" could have some negative connotations such as "uptight".

I have, on occasion, described people as "So far in the closet that they are in Narnia!"

In my youth, using the term "gay" and "retard" was a daily occurrence between my brother and I....that is what brothers do.  Now that I am an adult (only determined by the number of years I have been on this earth, not by maturity), I never use these terms.  Sensitivity to offensive terms is at an all time high.  Back in the 80s, people just didn't care if they were offensive, IMHO.  Now, I mostly use the term "idiot" when describing people that don't seem to have common sense or are doing something that I think I never do (of course, I am lying to myself to think that).

For example, there is this woman on my bus every morning on the way to work that can't seem to sit still.  She is constantly standing up to get something out of the overhead compartment.  (I should inform you that I commute to work on one of those tour buses that have overhead compartments, tv screens, nice cushy chairs, etc.)  Because I think this behavior is odd and just a means to get attention from everyone else on the bus, I refer to this woman as the idiot that can't sit still.  While I wouldn't consider my calling her that offensive, I know that I shouldn't use that term.  I am reminded of this when my 4-year old is in the back seat of my car and, when the driver in front of us doesn't move as soon as the light turns green, I hear her say, "Go, idiot!".  So, I am passing this on to the next generation.

It is when she says "Shit or get off the pot, motherfucker!" that you need to worry Doc!

Daltons chin dimple wrote:

I suppose you could argue that "Straight" could have some negative connotations such as "uptight". I have, on occasion, described people as "So far in the closet that they are in Narnia!"

Indeed. You do it here and here.

Busy?

Very.  I used the search feature.  It's not like I recalled where you used it from memory.  I'm no JaQuasar.

Wait.  We have a SEARCH feature?  Surely it will give you results 3 sets away from what you actually asked for?

It's a little wonky.  I sometimes have to do searches with and without quotes to get the desired results, and it never tells me which page the searched-for term is on if one of the results is a thread with multiple pages.

Much like the "New" posts link doesn't tell you what page the new posts are on.

At least it is consistent.

The word "Wonky" needs to make a come back.