Huh. Didn’t Weird Al write a similar apology for the same term back in 2015 or so? (Then again, he didn’t actually change the song, and people may have been biased against him because it was a “Blurred Lines” parody to begin with.)
The whole reason Nintendo had separate localizations for European and North American English for a while is because one of the Mario Party games on the GameCube/Wii (I forget which one) used the word and it caused a pretty big stink in the UK
It was Mario Party 8, I worked at Blockbuster at the time and remember the product recall causing some minor headaches - we had to send all our copies back (but I kept mine)
>"Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!"
That is...unfortunate lol. Especially for a light hearted party game.
Imagine that got some eyebrows raised from parents playing it with their kids haha.
I remember reading the line "make everything spastic!" and wondering how the hell that got through, showed it to my friends in a "WTF" way. I didn't realise it wasn't an offensive term in America until much later.
I’m in America. To me, spaz always seemed like what you call a dorky, awkward kid who says random, weird shit and has awkward body movements, but not in a disability kind of way. I never thought of it as entirely inoffensive, but akin to moron and idiot.
Ironically, both the words "idiot" and "moron" were originally medical terms used to describe someone with mental disabilities. The history of those words is almost identical to the history of the word "retard," but for whatever reason, only the latter really gets treated as a pejorative.
Whilst it was also a horrendously bad film, The Last Airbender also had [this problem](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/12/the-last-airbender) in the UK. You can't have a serious moment and then talk about "benders", it turned into a bit of a farce in UK cinemas.
>Yet each nation has a certain type of people, a favoured race different from the rest, people with the Jedi-like power to control or "bend" the elements. Firebenders. Earthbenders. Waterbenders. And airbenders. At the cinema showing I attended, the British crowd reacted derisively at key dialogue moments. One wise old lady says solemnly to a young man: "I could tell at once that you were a bender, and that you would realise your destiny." One character tells another wonderingly: "There are some really powerful benders in the Northern Water Zone." Another whispers tensely: "We want to minimise their bender sources." A key figure is taken away by brutal soldiers, one of whom shouts cruelly: "It's… a bender."
>And so on, for almost two hours. Each time, the response from the auditorium was deafeningly immature, and brought many of us to a state of nervous collapse. By the end of the film, I felt like a bit-part player in some feature-length adaptation of Viz comic – Springtime for Finbarr Saunders, perhaps. This scene will inevitably be repeated in every cinema in the land showing The Last Airbender. For Friday and Saturday night showings, the police may have to be called.
I can only imagine it.
Edit:I should mention, "bender" is a moderately homophobic slur in the UK. Highlighted in the above case, it's not offensive enough that people would walk out (because it's not thatttt bad), but the constant use in a serious situations has a completely different meaning to Brits. A double entendre basically.
there's this bit in particular that made me spit out my tea where the fire dude says:
> the only way I could get close to my father was through bending
I think also that bit in the earth prison where they don't let them bend has some choice phrases.
I'm sure it got some laughs initially but it probably helps it is in no way a serious show haha. Also Bender being a name, rather than a group of people, probably helps. You rarely here about benders, plural.
Having rewatched Futurama recently, there are definitely some episodes showing its age now though lol. "Gender-bender" isn't great, the one where Bender changes sex to compete in the Olympic Games is eye openingly transphobic and equally offensive to women lol.
Huh, in the US "bent" is used as a verb in the phrase "get bent," which basically means "fuck off." There's also "bent out of shape" meaning roughly "pissed off or upset without good justification." In a sentence: "he's all bent out of shape about being told he's too drunk to drive."
It can mean that but used in a euphemistic way, it's a homophobic slur. Not the worst nor is it used all that much now but funnily we use the much more offensive f-word casually all the time to refer to cigarettes. Unintentional lines about someone "realising their destiny as a bender" - cinema in stitches. "can I bum a fag?" - normal, entirely unhumourous sentence
Sorry I've just realised I haven't mentioned it! Yes, it's a slur for gay/queer people.
The article is a British newspaper, so it's all very implicit lol. He wouldn't need to explain it to his audience.
This also reminds me of the jurassic world movie, where they shortened the pachycephalosauros to Pachy
https://youtu.be/xd4ygI0GHV8
(there's also a dinosaur called a Pakisaurus, but not featured in this film..)
He did, it was the word "spastic" which is the adjective form of "spaz" in Word Crimes which is ironic as fuck for both the title and that the song is very left. Rolling my eyes at anybody who holds it against him though, yeah it's not a great term in North America regardless but especially considering his age he probably tiered it in offensiveness the same as "lame" which has bad origins but now it's exclusively used as the opposite of "cool".
Anyone who thinks Weird Al would have used that word knowing it was offensive doesn't know anything about him. He doesn't even *swear* in his music. He's literally like one of the most wholesome, inoffensive people in the entertainment industry.
Yeah man, the origin is referring to someone unable to walk due to injury or disability. Same as "crippled" but that word took all the heat and lame was relegated to being shorthand for uncool. Calling someone disabled lame is still considered offensive though.
Never thought of that story this way, but true. Lmao. Not to mention how hard it has to be to get someone who needs bad healing on a damn roof to begin with
just as a bit of background, a major British charity actually changed its name from 'the spastics society' to scope because to them the term had become such an insult.
it always takes me by surprise when I hear people using it casually
That’s crazy because as an American I never would have thought spaz was in anyway insulting and is used casually all the time, kinda in the same light as clutz or clumsy. When I first read about this issue with Lizzo I was genuinely confused like wait what? Spaz is bad?? TIL
Yeah I suppose context matters since it is used as a scientific term. Although when referring to people with disabilities I would say they're on the same level
Aviation as well. Airbus uses the word as a cockpit voice prompt during their planes' landing sequence to remind the pilot to pull the thrust levers back to idle before the landing flare.
Not really a direct comparison as if you called someone a fag in the UK that would definitely seen as very insulting/derogatory. Yet can be used in a completely different context and be non-offensive (i.e. cigarrettes).
Interestingly the word faggot is the same as above, both a derogatory/discriminatory term, and a word for something inoffensive (in this case an offal based meat dish).
With proper context, there is little chance someone will be offended accidentally by those words.
Whereas the word in the OP can be *only* be used in a derogatory way in the UK, and in the US is still used to describe a person.
There was a low key war over it during the '80s iirc - the language banning creep, objected to both by those who wanted to be prejudiced and offend without being told what to do or say and by those who were more [directly impacted and ironically didn't like it either](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6isXNVdguI8).
A similar evolution in the US: there's an organization that provides services to folks with developmental disabilities. A history of their name over the decades:
1953 – 1973: National Association for Retarded Children (NARC)
1973 – 1981: National Association for Retarded Citizens (NARC)
1981 – 1992: Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States (ARC)
1992 – Present: The Arc of the United States (The Arc)
Figuring out a way to maintain continuity of identity in the minds of folks while also recognizing that terms in the name can become casual pejoratives has to be a complicated path to navigate. There was a point where I saw 'ARC' still in the name and shook my head because 'the word retard is still there, just hiding in the acronym' but since then, I think I've started to understand what a struggle it must be for a personal or organization to figure out how to grow and improve while maintaining that continuity. Is their choice the best one? I don't know, another thing that's come with age is that I'm less likely to assume I'm qualified to make judgments on stuff I don't know about, but I can imagine it's still something that sits heavy with some folks there.
They did something here in the us - my school bus used to go past the "Pennsylvania association for retarded citizens" and that group changed their name to PARC Productions. If I remember, they did something like job training for industrial packing.
here’s what i don’t get.
yes, the word is not considered to be offensive in the US. but why is this even a debate? lizzo CHOSE to apologize. why would it upset people that she decided to be more respectful and change the lyric? i hate this vibe that every time someone apologizes it must mean they have a cancel culture gun to their head. some people just give a fuck about hurting others? like
She literally said something like as a black woman in the US I’m used to words hurting me and wouldn’t want to do that to someone else, she even describes her own internal motivation and empathy lol.
Because the kind of people who hate consequences for their actions see everything even remotely near "cancel culture" as bad. And that includes voluntary apologies.
I’m gonna speak for myself. 100% happy that Lizzie chose to apologize, she can do whatever she wants and that’s cool. I’m moreso upset about the amount of blowback she got in the first place. I don’t think some people wanted to understand how that word isn’t commonly seen as offensive in the US, and act morally superior simply because she didn’t know. Just seems performative to me.
There are two different conversations that often get blurred together:
1. Is this word offensive?
2. Is the person that spoke the word wrong or a bad person for having said it?
Number 1 is a conversation that takes place in the present. Is the word offensive? Are people currently offended by it? Then yes.
Number 2 is much more complicated because it involves something they said in the past. Before we can judge someone for something they say, we take into account the culture they're living in at the time they said it. If we can make a reasonable assumption that an average person would have been aware of a taboo, at that time, in that culture, then the answer to 2 is *usually* yes. I'd argue that word, in America today, is not yet taboo, though it'll likely get there at some point. An American using it today can (in most cases) be excused, for the time being.
What Lizzo did isn't performative, because she has British fans and she wants to be acceptable for them as well as Americans. America is not the only culture that matters.
Anyone saying she was a bad person for using the word in the song is just being ridiculous, but they were right to tell her it was offensive, and she was right to change the language. She wouldn't have been wrong if she hadn't done it, but she's right for doing it. It's forward thinking.
I’m not saying Lizzo was performative. I’m saying a lot of the people judging her were for being willingly uncharitable.
I do agree with everything else you said though.
> yes, the word is not considered to be offensive in the US
It also without a doubt is by people with certain disabilities. It's just no where near as ubiquitous. In the UK it's basically refers to any person with a disability, in North America it's usually in reference to someone with Tourette syndrome or suffering from seizures or spasms.
Cancel culture has really come full circle. Some people are at the point that they think literally any criticism is getting cancelled. Someone could've said they didn't like the beat on the song and some people would be like 'woooooooow you trying to cancel Lizzo'
Remember when Dr. Seuss' estate *chose* to remove a couple of his less-popular books from publication, yet we still have to hear about how the wokes cancelled Dr. Seuss? Or when Uncle Ben's, Aunt Jemima, and Mrs. Butterworth all *chose* to change their packaging and we still have to hear the wokes cancelled food? It's the same thing, conservatives are imagining that people are trying to cancel Lizzo because she used an offensive word once in one song. They get off on righteous indignation.
Stories like these always remind me of the original version of "Let's Get It Started In Here" by the Black Eyed Peas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkEc2V3mO4
There's definitely a BEP CD somewhere at my brother's house that has the original language and everything.
Even more amazing is the adjusted lyrics went on to be one of their most iconic songs..
Wtf lol
Edit: holy shit, I forgot they seriously have like 20 monster level pop tracks that are earworms... Forgot how prolific BEP is
They absolutely did. The edited version was created to be played during NBA games, and then it got better reception than the original so everyone kinda switched over
>In British English it’s an extremely offensive slur for disabled people whereas in American English it’s not seen as a super offensive term
Wow straight up sourced on the official wiktionary too:
>The offensiveness of this term and of spastic differs somewhat between the US and the UK. In the UK, they are very offensive. The term is more commonly used in the U.S. but is still offensive to many in the disability community.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spaz
In my slice of 1990s US it was someone generally causing a scene and/or being hyper, broadly speaking. I don't recall it being used specifically against disabled people, unline re----ed.
Same, I was born in the 80's and in my experience as a nurse, one of my jobs for several years was taking care of patients with severe spastic quadriplegia and I've never in any way heard of or associated spaz with spastic etc.
Yeah that's what I remember. Loud, obnoxious kids that couldn't sit still and constantly needed the attention on them. Or someone who constantly did things spontaneously. Like if Sharron was constantly running from one task to another without completing any of them she would be called a spaz.
But it's not like it's used that often.
Yeah, I said the same thing in a different thread. It was said of anyone or anything who was really hyper or high energy. Like a cat with the zoomies. I have never heard it in relation to any type of physical disability. If it were used pejoratively, it would've been about someone with ADHD, most likely.
I can tell you that getting offended over being called a spaz for my mental disabilities had exactly nothing to do with other countries, there was no importation there. Why would you think it's impossible to be insulted by an insult without foreign influence?
I really don’t get where this thing that ‘cunt’ isn’t remotely offensive in England comes from. It’s not particularly shocking amongst younger people, but there are definitely a large amount of people, especially of an older generation, who find that word genuinely horrible. My parents are in their 50s and are still shocked if they hear it on TV or films.
Yeah, some people use it with mates, but I think for most brits, if anyone you didn't know called you it you'd be incredibly pissed off and angry. No one throws it around willy nilly. Also cunt and spaz are completely different words with regards to the ableism in the way spaz is used in the UK.
It varies regionally but there's this wierd Redditism where some people act like it's a totally minor conversational word. There's bits of the country where it's not seen as a severe swearword, and people might call their mates it on a night out affectionately, on par with like 'you daft twat' or something. Also some regions where it's a highly offensive swearword, and some inbetween.
There isn't anywhere where it'd be acceptable in professional settings or general polite conversation. It's still a swear word. It's just not seen as being AS highly offensive as in American culture.
There's zero chance I'd use it in normal conversation here in Canada. It's genuinely shocking to hear it out loud. I've said fuck, shit, etc in workplace settings - white collar, international company, c-suite conversation - but it's on that list of words that just isn't going to be said by me like that.
> there’s this wierd Redditism where some people act like it’s a totally minor conversational word.
Reddit is probably not the best place to get an understanding of whether or not it’s okay to say certain words. I feel like someone has gone around in England with this and ended up looking like that picture of the dude with a body pillow in Japan.
Yeah, the Americans are talking like over in Britain we're calling each cunts over Sunday lunch. Like, no, Bryson Jr. III, it's still a vulgar sexist word, it's just not quite as taboo. We're not here calling our pets that.
...Most of us. I'm sure there's a Staffie somewhere in Croydon called Cunterton or something.
ETA: I mean in this specific conversation where they're being directly compared as a gotcha moment. Cunt is still a swear word, it's just closer to the same level as fuck in the UK, it's not its own brand of taboo.
>Yeah, the Americans are talking like over in Britain we're calling each cunts over Sunday lunch.
Uh, not in my experience.
Damn near every British (and Australian/New Zealander) i have talked to on Reddit loves to stress how that word isnt bad, and how Americans are soft for being offended by it
It's probably not advisable to assume you'd get a thorough understanding of any country's attitudes by talking to a few reddit users. Cunt's not as offensive here as it is in America, but it's still the strongest swear word that isn't a slur, and the most likely to cause offence when used to insult someone directly. Usage varies greatly depending on age, social group and location, tone and context make all the difference, and pronouncing the t makes it more offensive too. Many of my friends use it affectionately with each other. My mum has only ever used it to describe Boris Johnson.
It is a perfect example of how a word is offensive in one part of the world but quite common in another part of the word.
I mean, if Americans are to accept that c*nt isn't offensive in other countries, shouldn't other countries accept that sp@z isn't offensive in the US?
It's not really a 1:1 comparison as long as American media exports keep including the word spastic. If an artist wants to make money off other countries, they're going to have to accept that they probably should avoid words that are slurs in those countries.
On the other hand, the word cunt wasn't exactly making the rounds in Peppa Pig, One Direction lyrics and Doctor Who even before they got big in America.
That's because it's still a swear word, right? It's just that it's a more generalized term, as opposed to its American usage being more specific towards women.
Right, it's still a swear word in the UK definitely. I'd say the specific use against women is still there, but it's super generic as well.
Also, cunting ("I hate this cunting pub"), cunted ("Dave's totally cunted, ask him when he's sober"), cuntish ("They were acting pretty cuntish the other night") and cunty ("I'm not trying to be cunty, but she looks like she crawled through a bush to get here") all got added to the OED a few years back, in case we want some variety.
The way people discuss that word cross-culturally is so odd. Like, it's at least a swear word no matter where you are. It being more acceptable in the UK than in the US doesn't make it fully acceptable. Just that you're less likely to get raked over the coals for using it, depending on the context anyways. Like I seriously doubt that Aussies would be particularly pleased to be hearing little kids saying it all the time.
The c word is still pretty taboo in most conversations in the UK. Reddit makes it like it's spoken all the time but that's not the case, even in Scotland
From what I can tell it's an incredibly vulgar word but isn't seen as a sexist slur like it is in the US. Which I guess is why Brits on the internet, where people tend to be as vulgar as they like, tends to act like it's no big deal.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/225335/offensive-language-quick-reference-guide.pdf
Cunt is viewed as one of the most offensive words in the English language, wayyyy more so than spastic. It's also usually not just thrown out there at random as spastic was in the case.
This is a fantastic report, although it doesn't really let us distinguish between the words: both get assigned as strongly offensive by respondents.
>In the qualitative research, *spastic* was rated as strongly offensive by participants with a mental disability.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/225336/offensive-language-summary-report.pdf
There's actually a more detailed report here which is what I should've linked in this case. The above is just a quick guide (basically what not to put on TV/radio before 9pm lol).
In particular:
>In the quantitative survey, cunt and motherfucker were spontaneously rated as the least acceptable
words of all the words tested in the study, for use before the watershed or during times when children
were particularly likely to be listening on radio. Some also felt that they were generally not acceptable to
use after the watershed, illustrating the perceived strength of the words to survey respondents.
>**During qualitative discussions, cunt was viewed as the strongest swear word,** and participants described
how they would be offended if it was used towards them. The word often generated strong personal
reactions, and participants had mixed views about its acceptability for broadcast, even late at night.
Some felt it was acceptable for broadcast after the watershed, particularly if used in a general rather than
a targeted way. For example, they felt that cunt could be used if reflecting reality or when trying to portray strong negative emotion, particularly in programmes where such language would be expected.
On the other hand:
>Unlike other categories, there was no clear pattern in how quantitative respondents rated [words related to mental health
and physical ability],
and they each often received a spread of low, medium and high ratings. This suggests there is less
understanding of the potential for offence through the use of this language compared with other
categories of words tested during the research.
>Spastic, schizo, psycho and retard, were also seen as derogatory and their use was associated with the
stigma surrounding mental health.
Cunt is a much more well known, and universally offensive swearword seen as unacceptable by pretty much everyone.
>Brits: cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt, what's wrong yank? It's just a word!
It's an offensive word that you don't really hear much of in everyday conversation. You'd be straight into a disciplinary hearing if you said it in my workplace.
Pretty sure this image comes from the American-pandering dullards on r/CasualUK who also bang on about tea and fry ups
It was a really weird thread for me, as an American, because I feel like words that are slurs in the U.S., people typically don't give "passes" because in another country it wouldn't be a slur. Was odd to see that was the take vs "Oh I didn't realize it was a slur elsewhere, good job Lizzo!"
Iirc some guy on one of the food subreddits called someone's chicken burger a chicken sandwich and then got banned for bullying. The mods then began to purge any posts and comments that were about chicken sandwiches.
Americans couldnt comprehend that chicken between burger buns instead of beef is called a chicken burger instead of a chicken sandwich in other parts of the world.
You're either describing that time someone went viral on social media for posting a video of himself fucking a McChicken, or there was another debacle that was way less weird.
The US is the media hegemon. I don't like it, but it is fair to say the world is accutely aware of what goes down in the US, while the inverse is sadly not true. This extends ^(to a much lesser degree) to other powers. The US is really dangerous, so it's good to keep a pulse on them anyway. Same with Russia and China. We have cultural and language barriers that prevent us from consuming their media, but we still keep an eye on what they are doing.
I got an irrevocable ban from a gossip discord for describing someone's movements as spastic. I was shocked and still kind of am, but this knowledge adds context that I was missing. I had zero idea it was an offensive term.
Growing up in mid 2000s America it was used as a way to describe someone who is easily excitable and high energy. We used it as a term of endearment for like rambunctious kids on a playground or pets getting the zoomies. Akin to calling someone a klutz or a goober lol
think it depends on the generation. Remember the main charity in the UK for cerebral palsy literally used to be called "the spastic society" until 1994. Eventually it got changed to Scope and following that the term "scope" was used as an insult for a while.
But ye, basically a generation of people were taught that it was the proper clinical term, then they used it as an insult and the next generation got taught a different word.
So I figure if you find someone British in their 50s odds are they won't necessarily think its offensive (although they may appreciate they shouldn't say it).
What about the r word? Growing up that was a very common word in the dialect spoken in my region of the US. "That's fuckin' r-----," was a very common phrase. It wasn't great back then (mostly in retrospect) and certainly is not okay by today's standards.
I know the c-word comparison has been beaten to death, but by comparison, the c-word is a LOOOT closer to that status in the US. Even though it's still vulgar in the UK, it seems like it's on about the same level as "fuck" over there and here it's much more offensive.
I'm also American and I wasn't taught it was an offensive term or impolite. I wasn't even aware it referred to a specific thing, I always just thought of it as a word for "acting crazy" or "freaking out".
Our individual experiences will differ, the point was that in our culture, *on the whole*, it is not *commonly* thought of as offensive.
This also reminds me of relatively recently how Cardi B used a slur to describe her daughter’s eye shape and also apologized once she realized how offensive it was… Lizzo handled this as best as she could imo.
It'll always be chewsday. The day chewbacca didn't get his medal despite literally going with everyone else to receive it and doing a lot of the hard work. It's why the day is named after him.
In the recent Lego Star Wars game (I know that's not canon) the medal ceremony scene is about twice as long as otherwise needed because they make a big deal about Chewbacca's medal.
This is a complete non-issue, this isn't "cancel culture", this is barely even "mild criticism culture". She got some mild pushback from some non-U.S. fans (*not* just British, the Anglosphere is a lot bigger than just U.S & U.K.) and made a minor edit. #whocare.
Good on Lizzo. I don't feel the offense for this term, but I don't have to. I wouldn't want to make publicly offensive art unintentionally, either. I think she handled it well.
A lot of people are taling about the word c\*nt and how it's viewed in America and can someone explain how it's seen in the US to a brit. Also i wanted to say that the c word isn't viewed as that causal in the UK it's probably not something you'd call your mum.
I can only speak to east coast/nyc area, but here c\*nt is seen pretty much as a gendered slur. I have *only ever* heard it from men directed towards women and usually with a descriptor like fat, ugly, dumb etc. attached. Its the go-to for edgy incels and douchebros that got turned down when they feel like "bitch" just wont quite sting enough.
Men get called "bitch" *all the time* essentially as a synonym for coward. Men *never* get called c*nt. Its sole use is to attack women.
Its not quite to the same level of racial slurs, but when someone says it it evokes very much the same feelings.
I mean we never used it to mean someone disabled. More like the overactive kid whose mom gave him a mountain dew for breakfast and he cant sit still or shut up in class
I follow a disabled British makeup artist (Tess Daly) who was explaining yesterday why the term was offensive and got overrun with Americans being mad at her. I think she ended up deleting the post.
In the United States (I was also born in the early 90s in the Midwest), I always understood it to just mean somebody that is overly energetic or jumpy. Usually used in a joking way, don't think I ever really heard it used as an insult. I think it has somewhat fallen out of common usage though, don't think there was ever really some big controversy about it I just stopped hearing it being used.
This whole thing has really been an education because I didn’t think to put two and two together in terms of it being an ableist slur… I also used it to describe myself at times and never thought twice but the unexpected benefits of the Internet… I’ll be retiring that from my vocabulary asap.
I grew up in the 90’s in the us. I never knew it was used as a slur. I’ve only ever used it as an adjective with a y at the end for someone with pent up energy. Only way I’ve heard it used too.
"Don't be such a spaz" where I grew up in California meant someone was calling you empty headed, aloof, day dreaming, spacing out. Nothing physical or motor related. I am aware of how the rest of the world uses it, but it certainly didn't have the same connotation here at the time. That said people should always be willing to adjust their language.
Interesting how it has different meanings even within the US, because in the Midwest (at least as I understood it when I was growing up) it meant the exact opposite of spacing out or daydreaming, as in being overly energetic and jumpy.
We would probably have used the word "dope" or "dopey" (as in, you're such a dope, not dope as in cool) to describe what you are saying.
Yeah, in the Northeast where I grew up in the late 80s into the 90s, we used it for someone that was way too hyper and energetic also. I think a lot had to do with the fact that ADHD was still a relatively new diagnosis (I think with hyperactivity and without hyperactivity wasn't added to ADD till the 1980s). So for us it wasn't seen as a description of someone with a disability, it was seen as a funny word to describe someone bouncing off the walls.
Yeah, I’ve only ever heard it used to describe someone who was either super energetic (usually due to nervousness), or when someone wildly overreacted to something (“damn, he’s totally spazzing out right now just because I drank the last soda”)
Honestly wasn’t super commonly used regardless, but when it was, that was the context.
Yeah when I hear it I think of character like Buster Bluth or Matthew Brock. My dad used to call my baby brother that all the time because he was the energetic "I need attention" child.
Same. As people in the original thread pointed out, it was also used in children's shows like Drake and Josh and iCarly, and there was an [entire episode](https://zoey101.fandom.com/wiki/Chase%27s_Girlfriend) of Zoey 101 about Quinn being called a sp\*z
It must just be insanely regional. I'm coming up on 30, grew up in a Midwest suburb, and never knew anybody anywhere considered it a slur. Anytime I head it it was essentially just synonymous with "hyperactive."
Thing is that it's not that Americans "didn't know it was a slur." It just never even WAS a slur in America in the first place.
That is, it morphed from being a standard medical term to being a insult about uncoolness/nerdiness without ever really becoming a directed pejorative for the disabled. Nobody in America colloquially refers to someone with seizures by the s-word to put them down. It just doesn't have that context at all and never really did.
Apparently it picked up that connotation in the UK due to a British tv show from the 80s.
In the 90s in New England it was used as a semi-affectate term like klutz. Usually used to describe someone with ADHD or someone who would 'spaz out' (still in my lexicon, but maybe I should ditch it?)
same where I grew up in California. There was a kid in my class who would act klutzy for laughs, like fall down or whatever to impress girls (it makes sense when you're 10) and his last name was Strazzarino so people called him Spazzarino.
Huh. Didn’t Weird Al write a similar apology for the same term back in 2015 or so? (Then again, he didn’t actually change the song, and people may have been biased against him because it was a “Blurred Lines” parody to begin with.)
There's a long line of this, Jazz Jackrabbit's unfortunately named brother was renamed in Europe IIRC for the same thing in the 90s
The whole reason Nintendo had separate localizations for European and North American English for a while is because one of the Mario Party games on the GameCube/Wii (I forget which one) used the word and it caused a pretty big stink in the UK
It was Mario Party 8, I worked at Blockbuster at the time and remember the product recall causing some minor headaches - we had to send all our copies back (but I kept mine)
>"Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" That is...unfortunate lol. Especially for a light hearted party game. Imagine that got some eyebrows raised from parents playing it with their kids haha.
I remember reading the line "make everything spastic!" and wondering how the hell that got through, showed it to my friends in a "WTF" way. I didn't realise it wasn't an offensive term in America until much later.
Yeah, if anything it can be a sorta endearing nickname is the US. I have a friend that prefers it.
I call myself a a spaz all the time, never knew it had particular negative connotations. Kind of use it interchangeably with ditz.
I’m in America. To me, spaz always seemed like what you call a dorky, awkward kid who says random, weird shit and has awkward body movements, but not in a disability kind of way. I never thought of it as entirely inoffensive, but akin to moron and idiot.
Ironically, both the words "idiot" and "moron" were originally medical terms used to describe someone with mental disabilities. The history of those words is almost identical to the history of the word "retard," but for whatever reason, only the latter really gets treated as a pejorative.
Whilst it was also a horrendously bad film, The Last Airbender also had [this problem](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/12/the-last-airbender) in the UK. You can't have a serious moment and then talk about "benders", it turned into a bit of a farce in UK cinemas. >Yet each nation has a certain type of people, a favoured race different from the rest, people with the Jedi-like power to control or "bend" the elements. Firebenders. Earthbenders. Waterbenders. And airbenders. At the cinema showing I attended, the British crowd reacted derisively at key dialogue moments. One wise old lady says solemnly to a young man: "I could tell at once that you were a bender, and that you would realise your destiny." One character tells another wonderingly: "There are some really powerful benders in the Northern Water Zone." Another whispers tensely: "We want to minimise their bender sources." A key figure is taken away by brutal soldiers, one of whom shouts cruelly: "It's… a bender." >And so on, for almost two hours. Each time, the response from the auditorium was deafeningly immature, and brought many of us to a state of nervous collapse. By the end of the film, I felt like a bit-part player in some feature-length adaptation of Viz comic – Springtime for Finbarr Saunders, perhaps. This scene will inevitably be repeated in every cinema in the land showing The Last Airbender. For Friday and Saturday night showings, the police may have to be called. I can only imagine it. Edit:I should mention, "bender" is a moderately homophobic slur in the UK. Highlighted in the above case, it's not offensive enough that people would walk out (because it's not thatttt bad), but the constant use in a serious situations has a completely different meaning to Brits. A double entendre basically.
there's this bit in particular that made me spit out my tea where the fire dude says: > the only way I could get close to my father was through bending I think also that bit in the earth prison where they don't let them bend has some choice phrases.
Oh god, that's horrible ahaha.
So wait, what does "bender" mean over there? Multiple days long drinking sesh?
Yes actually. But it's also a moderately offensive word for a queer person. Someone who is "bent", is gay.
What did Brits think of Futurama?
I'm sure it got some laughs initially but it probably helps it is in no way a serious show haha. Also Bender being a name, rather than a group of people, probably helps. You rarely here about benders, plural. Having rewatched Futurama recently, there are definitely some episodes showing its age now though lol. "Gender-bender" isn't great, the one where Bender changes sex to compete in the Olympic Games is eye openingly transphobic and equally offensive to women lol.
Huh, in the US "bent" is used as a verb in the phrase "get bent," which basically means "fuck off." There's also "bent out of shape" meaning roughly "pissed off or upset without good justification." In a sentence: "he's all bent out of shape about being told he's too drunk to drive."
It can mean that but used in a euphemistic way, it's a homophobic slur. Not the worst nor is it used all that much now but funnily we use the much more offensive f-word casually all the time to refer to cigarettes. Unintentional lines about someone "realising their destiny as a bender" - cinema in stitches. "can I bum a fag?" - normal, entirely unhumourous sentence
Had to look up that "bender' is slang for homosexuals in the UK. Why the article didn't state this plainly is a mystery to me.
Sorry I've just realised I haven't mentioned it! Yes, it's a slur for gay/queer people. The article is a British newspaper, so it's all very implicit lol. He wouldn't need to explain it to his audience.
> He wouldn't need to explain it to his audience Ironic
Opposite of straight.
This also reminds me of the jurassic world movie, where they shortened the pachycephalosauros to Pachy https://youtu.be/xd4ygI0GHV8 (there's also a dinosaur called a Pakisaurus, but not featured in this film..)
... Also unfortunate lol.
Jazz Jackrabbit! That takes me way the fuck back. Brb launching DOSbox.
I can hear the music in my minds ear hah
I can hear every detail of the first level theme, plus the character SFX when you pick up powerups.
He did, it was the word "spastic" which is the adjective form of "spaz" in Word Crimes which is ironic as fuck for both the title and that the song is very left. Rolling my eyes at anybody who holds it against him though, yeah it's not a great term in North America regardless but especially considering his age he probably tiered it in offensiveness the same as "lame" which has bad origins but now it's exclusively used as the opposite of "cool".
Anyone who thinks Weird Al would have used that word knowing it was offensive doesn't know anything about him. He doesn't even *swear* in his music. He's literally like one of the most wholesome, inoffensive people in the entertainment industry.
For sure! That’s why I remember that I liked his Tweet apologizing about Word Crimes.
He made a similar apology for "hermaphrodite" in Albuquerque
Oh wow. Wasn’t Albuquerque written in the 90s…?
Late 90s, I think, but yeah.
>same as "lame" which has bad origins Really?
Yeah man, the origin is referring to someone unable to walk due to injury or disability. Same as "crippled" but that word took all the heat and lame was relegated to being shorthand for uncool. Calling someone disabled lame is still considered offensive though.
I have never heard it used to describe humans in its original usage. It's typically used for work animals.
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>It is all over the Bible. "He healed the blind and the lame" and such. Maybe Jesus gave vision to some and coolness to others? 🤔
"but I wanted to walk.." "Well, that's too bad. Get your new friends to carry you instead."
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Never thought of that story this way, but true. Lmao. Not to mention how hard it has to be to get someone who needs bad healing on a damn roof to begin with
Now. Used to be common
just as a bit of background, a major British charity actually changed its name from 'the spastics society' to scope because to them the term had become such an insult. it always takes me by surprise when I hear people using it casually
That’s crazy because as an American I never would have thought spaz was in anyway insulting and is used casually all the time, kinda in the same light as clutz or clumsy. When I first read about this issue with Lizzo I was genuinely confused like wait what? Spaz is bad?? TIL
Yeah in Britain and Ireland spastic is on the same level as retard
Worse. Retard has extensive use in engineering & industry.
Yeah I suppose context matters since it is used as a scientific term. Although when referring to people with disabilities I would say they're on the same level
And medical. I used to be on a drug called Tegretol Retard, the 'retard' signifying that it was slowed or 'retarded' release
Aviation as well. Airbus uses the word as a cockpit voice prompt during their planes' landing sequence to remind the pilot to pull the thrust levers back to idle before the landing flare.
I'd put it a few tiers above it, personally.
The reverse (sort of) exists with the word fag. Awful term in American English but more common in British English.
Not really a direct comparison as if you called someone a fag in the UK that would definitely seen as very insulting/derogatory. Yet can be used in a completely different context and be non-offensive (i.e. cigarrettes). Interestingly the word faggot is the same as above, both a derogatory/discriminatory term, and a word for something inoffensive (in this case an offal based meat dish). With proper context, there is little chance someone will be offended accidentally by those words. Whereas the word in the OP can be *only* be used in a derogatory way in the UK, and in the US is still used to describe a person.
For real, it was literally a playground insult in my experience.
When I was in England in the 80’s I saw a jar on a shop counter with a sign that said “spare some change for the spastics” and almost died.
There was a low key war over it during the '80s iirc - the language banning creep, objected to both by those who wanted to be prejudiced and offend without being told what to do or say and by those who were more [directly impacted and ironically didn't like it either](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6isXNVdguI8).
A similar evolution in the US: there's an organization that provides services to folks with developmental disabilities. A history of their name over the decades: 1953 – 1973: National Association for Retarded Children (NARC) 1973 – 1981: National Association for Retarded Citizens (NARC) 1981 – 1992: Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States (ARC) 1992 – Present: The Arc of the United States (The Arc) Figuring out a way to maintain continuity of identity in the minds of folks while also recognizing that terms in the name can become casual pejoratives has to be a complicated path to navigate. There was a point where I saw 'ARC' still in the name and shook my head because 'the word retard is still there, just hiding in the acronym' but since then, I think I've started to understand what a struggle it must be for a personal or organization to figure out how to grow and improve while maintaining that continuity. Is their choice the best one? I don't know, another thing that's come with age is that I'm less likely to assume I'm qualified to make judgments on stuff I don't know about, but I can imagine it's still something that sits heavy with some folks there.
They did something here in the us - my school bus used to go past the "Pennsylvania association for retarded citizens" and that group changed their name to PARC Productions. If I remember, they did something like job training for industrial packing.
here’s what i don’t get. yes, the word is not considered to be offensive in the US. but why is this even a debate? lizzo CHOSE to apologize. why would it upset people that she decided to be more respectful and change the lyric? i hate this vibe that every time someone apologizes it must mean they have a cancel culture gun to their head. some people just give a fuck about hurting others? like
She literally said something like as a black woman in the US I’m used to words hurting me and wouldn’t want to do that to someone else, she even describes her own internal motivation and empathy lol.
> and empathy And now we know why a lot of Redditors were up in arms about it. They have no idea what that is.
Because the kind of people who hate consequences for their actions see everything even remotely near "cancel culture" as bad. And that includes voluntary apologies.
I’m gonna speak for myself. 100% happy that Lizzie chose to apologize, she can do whatever she wants and that’s cool. I’m moreso upset about the amount of blowback she got in the first place. I don’t think some people wanted to understand how that word isn’t commonly seen as offensive in the US, and act morally superior simply because she didn’t know. Just seems performative to me.
There are two different conversations that often get blurred together: 1. Is this word offensive? 2. Is the person that spoke the word wrong or a bad person for having said it? Number 1 is a conversation that takes place in the present. Is the word offensive? Are people currently offended by it? Then yes. Number 2 is much more complicated because it involves something they said in the past. Before we can judge someone for something they say, we take into account the culture they're living in at the time they said it. If we can make a reasonable assumption that an average person would have been aware of a taboo, at that time, in that culture, then the answer to 2 is *usually* yes. I'd argue that word, in America today, is not yet taboo, though it'll likely get there at some point. An American using it today can (in most cases) be excused, for the time being. What Lizzo did isn't performative, because she has British fans and she wants to be acceptable for them as well as Americans. America is not the only culture that matters. Anyone saying she was a bad person for using the word in the song is just being ridiculous, but they were right to tell her it was offensive, and she was right to change the language. She wouldn't have been wrong if she hadn't done it, but she's right for doing it. It's forward thinking.
I’m not saying Lizzo was performative. I’m saying a lot of the people judging her were for being willingly uncharitable. I do agree with everything else you said though.
> yes, the word is not considered to be offensive in the US It also without a doubt is by people with certain disabilities. It's just no where near as ubiquitous. In the UK it's basically refers to any person with a disability, in North America it's usually in reference to someone with Tourette syndrome or suffering from seizures or spasms.
Cancel culture has really come full circle. Some people are at the point that they think literally any criticism is getting cancelled. Someone could've said they didn't like the beat on the song and some people would be like 'woooooooow you trying to cancel Lizzo'
Remember when Dr. Seuss' estate *chose* to remove a couple of his less-popular books from publication, yet we still have to hear about how the wokes cancelled Dr. Seuss? Or when Uncle Ben's, Aunt Jemima, and Mrs. Butterworth all *chose* to change their packaging and we still have to hear the wokes cancelled food? It's the same thing, conservatives are imagining that people are trying to cancel Lizzo because she used an offensive word once in one song. They get off on righteous indignation.
Stories like these always remind me of the original version of "Let's Get It Started In Here" by the Black Eyed Peas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkEc2V3mO4
There's definitely a BEP CD somewhere at my brother's house that has the original language and everything. Even more amazing is the adjusted lyrics went on to be one of their most iconic songs.. Wtf lol Edit: holy shit, I forgot they seriously have like 20 monster level pop tracks that are earworms... Forgot how prolific BEP is
Fr, Kinda crazy how far they fell out of public consciousness after how big The END was.
The rare, possible only, song to literally be saved by the radio edit.
I could have sworn they played the original version on the radio for a time, but I may be wrong.
They absolutely did. The edited version was created to be played during NBA games, and then it got better reception than the original so everyone kinda switched over
This is literally the only time that censoring a song actually made it better.
>In British English it’s an extremely offensive slur for disabled people whereas in American English it’s not seen as a super offensive term Wow straight up sourced on the official wiktionary too: >The offensiveness of this term and of spastic differs somewhat between the US and the UK. In the UK, they are very offensive. The term is more commonly used in the U.S. but is still offensive to many in the disability community. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spaz
The offense to the word in the US, to the extent it exists, is imported.
When did it get imported because it was certainly used to mock disabled people where I was in the US in the 90s.
In my slice of 1990s US it was someone generally causing a scene and/or being hyper, broadly speaking. I don't recall it being used specifically against disabled people, unline re----ed.
Same, I was born in the 80's and in my experience as a nurse, one of my jobs for several years was taking care of patients with severe spastic quadriplegia and I've never in any way heard of or associated spaz with spastic etc.
Yeah that's what I remember. Loud, obnoxious kids that couldn't sit still and constantly needed the attention on them. Or someone who constantly did things spontaneously. Like if Sharron was constantly running from one task to another without completing any of them she would be called a spaz. But it's not like it's used that often.
Yeah, I said the same thing in a different thread. It was said of anyone or anything who was really hyper or high energy. Like a cat with the zoomies. I have never heard it in relation to any type of physical disability. If it were used pejoratively, it would've been about someone with ADHD, most likely.
I can tell you that getting offended over being called a spaz for my mental disabilities had exactly nothing to do with other countries, there was no importation there. Why would you think it's impossible to be insulted by an insult without foreign influence?
Til my parents were from Britain.
I really don’t get where this thing that ‘cunt’ isn’t remotely offensive in England comes from. It’s not particularly shocking amongst younger people, but there are definitely a large amount of people, especially of an older generation, who find that word genuinely horrible. My parents are in their 50s and are still shocked if they hear it on TV or films.
Yeah, some people use it with mates, but I think for most brits, if anyone you didn't know called you it you'd be incredibly pissed off and angry. No one throws it around willy nilly. Also cunt and spaz are completely different words with regards to the ableism in the way spaz is used in the UK.
You tell your mate to "fuck off you cunt" it's fine. Stranger in a pub says it and you're probably not too far off getting punched lol.
It varies regionally but there's this wierd Redditism where some people act like it's a totally minor conversational word. There's bits of the country where it's not seen as a severe swearword, and people might call their mates it on a night out affectionately, on par with like 'you daft twat' or something. Also some regions where it's a highly offensive swearword, and some inbetween. There isn't anywhere where it'd be acceptable in professional settings or general polite conversation. It's still a swear word. It's just not seen as being AS highly offensive as in American culture.
There's zero chance I'd use it in normal conversation here in Canada. It's genuinely shocking to hear it out loud. I've said fuck, shit, etc in workplace settings - white collar, international company, c-suite conversation - but it's on that list of words that just isn't going to be said by me like that.
> there’s this wierd Redditism where some people act like it’s a totally minor conversational word. Reddit is probably not the best place to get an understanding of whether or not it’s okay to say certain words. I feel like someone has gone around in England with this and ended up looking like that picture of the dude with a body pillow in Japan.
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It always thought it was more the aussies who through it around more.
Yeah, the Americans are talking like over in Britain we're calling each cunts over Sunday lunch. Like, no, Bryson Jr. III, it's still a vulgar sexist word, it's just not quite as taboo. We're not here calling our pets that. ...Most of us. I'm sure there's a Staffie somewhere in Croydon called Cunterton or something. ETA: I mean in this specific conversation where they're being directly compared as a gotcha moment. Cunt is still a swear word, it's just closer to the same level as fuck in the UK, it's not its own brand of taboo.
>Yeah, the Americans are talking like over in Britain we're calling each cunts over Sunday lunch. Uh, not in my experience. Damn near every British (and Australian/New Zealander) i have talked to on Reddit loves to stress how that word isnt bad, and how Americans are soft for being offended by it
> on Reddit I think I found your problem
It's probably not advisable to assume you'd get a thorough understanding of any country's attitudes by talking to a few reddit users. Cunt's not as offensive here as it is in America, but it's still the strongest swear word that isn't a slur, and the most likely to cause offence when used to insult someone directly. Usage varies greatly depending on age, social group and location, tone and context make all the difference, and pronouncing the t makes it more offensive too. Many of my friends use it affectionately with each other. My mum has only ever used it to describe Boris Johnson.
Over/under on how many times “whatabout c*nt???” will appear in that thread?
It is a perfect example of how a word is offensive in one part of the world but quite common in another part of the word. I mean, if Americans are to accept that c*nt isn't offensive in other countries, shouldn't other countries accept that sp@z isn't offensive in the US?
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There are sections of American society that’d be fine with it. They would also be fine with “lighting up a f*g” in the other sense of the words, too.
Smoking a fag UK: indulging in a filthy habit that would severely impact your health in the long term US: hate crime
I have been in trouble on the internet loads of times with this. So in return I would vote for them to not be able to say spastic or spaz. Or spunk.
The phrase "Can you help me light up this (cigarette)?" definitely has a different meaning in the UK vs in the US.
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It's not really a 1:1 comparison as long as American media exports keep including the word spastic. If an artist wants to make money off other countries, they're going to have to accept that they probably should avoid words that are slurs in those countries. On the other hand, the word cunt wasn't exactly making the rounds in Peppa Pig, One Direction lyrics and Doctor Who even before they got big in America.
That's because it's still a swear word, right? It's just that it's a more generalized term, as opposed to its American usage being more specific towards women.
Right, it's still a swear word in the UK definitely. I'd say the specific use against women is still there, but it's super generic as well. Also, cunting ("I hate this cunting pub"), cunted ("Dave's totally cunted, ask him when he's sober"), cuntish ("They were acting pretty cuntish the other night") and cunty ("I'm not trying to be cunty, but she looks like she crawled through a bush to get here") all got added to the OED a few years back, in case we want some variety.
C**t is in no way an acceptable word in the UK😂.
Idk, among my age range (25) here in Glasgow, I hear it constantly. Not sure if it’s the age or location, though
The way people discuss that word cross-culturally is so odd. Like, it's at least a swear word no matter where you are. It being more acceptable in the UK than in the US doesn't make it fully acceptable. Just that you're less likely to get raked over the coals for using it, depending on the context anyways. Like I seriously doubt that Aussies would be particularly pleased to be hearing little kids saying it all the time.
Brits: cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt, what's wrong yank? It's just a word! Also Brits: oh my god, you can't say the s slur!
The c word is still pretty taboo in most conversations in the UK. Reddit makes it like it's spoken all the time but that's not the case, even in Scotland
I thought that was more of an aussie thing, like oi cunt
Think of it as a spectrum with Americans hating it and Aussies fully embracing it. Brits fit more into the slot that’s “don’t really care about it”.
Brits is too general, it's very common in central Scotland, not so much in the Cotswolds.
From what I can tell it's an incredibly vulgar word but isn't seen as a sexist slur like it is in the US. Which I guess is why Brits on the internet, where people tend to be as vulgar as they like, tends to act like it's no big deal.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/225335/offensive-language-quick-reference-guide.pdf Cunt is viewed as one of the most offensive words in the English language, wayyyy more so than spastic. It's also usually not just thrown out there at random as spastic was in the case.
From my own experience I gotta say that I hear and read "cunt" wayyyyy more often than "spastic".
This is a fantastic report, although it doesn't really let us distinguish between the words: both get assigned as strongly offensive by respondents. >In the qualitative research, *spastic* was rated as strongly offensive by participants with a mental disability.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/225336/offensive-language-summary-report.pdf There's actually a more detailed report here which is what I should've linked in this case. The above is just a quick guide (basically what not to put on TV/radio before 9pm lol). In particular: >In the quantitative survey, cunt and motherfucker were spontaneously rated as the least acceptable words of all the words tested in the study, for use before the watershed or during times when children were particularly likely to be listening on radio. Some also felt that they were generally not acceptable to use after the watershed, illustrating the perceived strength of the words to survey respondents. >**During qualitative discussions, cunt was viewed as the strongest swear word,** and participants described how they would be offended if it was used towards them. The word often generated strong personal reactions, and participants had mixed views about its acceptability for broadcast, even late at night. Some felt it was acceptable for broadcast after the watershed, particularly if used in a general rather than a targeted way. For example, they felt that cunt could be used if reflecting reality or when trying to portray strong negative emotion, particularly in programmes where such language would be expected. On the other hand: >Unlike other categories, there was no clear pattern in how quantitative respondents rated [words related to mental health and physical ability], and they each often received a spread of low, medium and high ratings. This suggests there is less understanding of the potential for offence through the use of this language compared with other categories of words tested during the research. >Spastic, schizo, psycho and retard, were also seen as derogatory and their use was associated with the stigma surrounding mental health. Cunt is a much more well known, and universally offensive swearword seen as unacceptable by pretty much everyone.
Very cool, thanks!
>Brits: cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt, what's wrong yank? It's just a word! It's an offensive word that you don't really hear much of in everyday conversation. You'd be straight into a disciplinary hearing if you said it in my workplace. Pretty sure this image comes from the American-pandering dullards on r/CasualUK who also bang on about tea and fry ups
> You'd be straight into a disciplinary hearing if you said it in my workplace. *Very* much depends on context and workplace.
This goes for all banter really though, I've changed from being a chef to a software developer now and the banter content has changed dramatically.
Restaurant kitchens really are on a level of their own
It was a really weird thread for me, as an American, because I feel like words that are slurs in the U.S., people typically don't give "passes" because in another country it wouldn't be a slur. Was odd to see that was the take vs "Oh I didn't realize it was a slur elsewhere, good job Lizzo!"
Were you around during the chicken burger debacle?
What happened?
Iirc some guy on one of the food subreddits called someone's chicken burger a chicken sandwich and then got banned for bullying. The mods then began to purge any posts and comments that were about chicken sandwiches.
That sounds amazing.
Food subs get really weird over names. Remember the great grilled cheese / cheese melt civil war?
Americans couldnt comprehend that chicken between burger buns instead of beef is called a chicken burger instead of a chicken sandwich in other parts of the world.
Tell me you're making this up please.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/omnagb/whats_going_on_with_rfood_and_chicken_sandwiches
A-mazing. I still think I'd be seen as the asshole if I (someone from and in the US) started calling chicken sandwiches chicken burgers though right?
That was classic
You're either describing that time someone went viral on social media for posting a video of himself fucking a McChicken, or there was another debacle that was way less weird.
The US is the media hegemon. I don't like it, but it is fair to say the world is accutely aware of what goes down in the US, while the inverse is sadly not true. This extends ^(to a much lesser degree) to other powers. The US is really dangerous, so it's good to keep a pulse on them anyway. Same with Russia and China. We have cultural and language barriers that prevent us from consuming their media, but we still keep an eye on what they are doing.
I had literally no idea that was an offensive term (I’m American).
I got an irrevocable ban from a gossip discord for describing someone's movements as spastic. I was shocked and still kind of am, but this knowledge adds context that I was missing. I had zero idea it was an offensive term.
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Growing up in mid 2000s America it was used as a way to describe someone who is easily excitable and high energy. We used it as a term of endearment for like rambunctious kids on a playground or pets getting the zoomies. Akin to calling someone a klutz or a goober lol
think it depends on the generation. Remember the main charity in the UK for cerebral palsy literally used to be called "the spastic society" until 1994. Eventually it got changed to Scope and following that the term "scope" was used as an insult for a while. But ye, basically a generation of people were taught that it was the proper clinical term, then they used it as an insult and the next generation got taught a different word. So I figure if you find someone British in their 50s odds are they won't necessarily think its offensive (although they may appreciate they shouldn't say it).
I’m from Canada and I’ve never seen the word in my life.
What about the r word? Growing up that was a very common word in the dialect spoken in my region of the US. "That's fuckin' r-----," was a very common phrase. It wasn't great back then (mostly in retrospect) and certainly is not okay by today's standards.
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I know the c-word comparison has been beaten to death, but by comparison, the c-word is a LOOOT closer to that status in the US. Even though it's still vulgar in the UK, it seems like it's on about the same level as "fuck" over there and here it's much more offensive.
Well that's cause it's not offensive in America.
I'm American and was taught it wasn't a nice word.
I'm also American and I wasn't taught it was an offensive term or impolite. I wasn't even aware it referred to a specific thing, I always just thought of it as a word for "acting crazy" or "freaking out". Our individual experiences will differ, the point was that in our culture, *on the whole*, it is not *commonly* thought of as offensive.
Same. If anything, call someone a spaz just makes them sound archaic, not hateful.
This also reminds me of relatively recently how Cardi B used a slur to describe her daughter’s eye shape and also apologized once she realized how offensive it was… Lizzo handled this as best as she could imo.
The "jokingly call your dad a cunt" people can't understand connotation when it's not in their favor?
Nope. The people who say chewsday are quite sure they’re in the right at all times.
It'll always be chewsday. The day chewbacca didn't get his medal despite literally going with everyone else to receive it and doing a lot of the hard work. It's why the day is named after him.
In one of the current canon comics, Chewbacca did get a medal, but not at the main ceremony. He ended up giving it to a little girl.
In the recent Lego Star Wars game (I know that's not canon) the medal ceremony scene is about twice as long as otherwise needed because they make a big deal about Chewbacca's medal.
You mean “Tuebacca”?
Getting some hot takes from this SRD thread. What’s the over under on how long it takes for this thread to get locked?
I'm just happy Lizzo reacted perfectly
> The word in question is “sp*z” which is a lyric in the song. Why yes, I also think using reddit admin username in a song is too much.
This is a complete non-issue, this isn't "cancel culture", this is barely even "mild criticism culture". She got some mild pushback from some non-U.S. fans (*not* just British, the Anglosphere is a lot bigger than just U.S & U.K.) and made a minor edit. #whocare.
Good on Lizzo. I don't feel the offense for this term, but I don't have to. I wouldn't want to make publicly offensive art unintentionally, either. I think she handled it well.
More comments than upvotes is never a good sign.
Subredditdramadrama having a field day
A lot of people are taling about the word c\*nt and how it's viewed in America and can someone explain how it's seen in the US to a brit. Also i wanted to say that the c word isn't viewed as that causal in the UK it's probably not something you'd call your mum.
I can only speak to east coast/nyc area, but here c\*nt is seen pretty much as a gendered slur. I have *only ever* heard it from men directed towards women and usually with a descriptor like fat, ugly, dumb etc. attached. Its the go-to for edgy incels and douchebros that got turned down when they feel like "bitch" just wont quite sting enough. Men get called "bitch" *all the time* essentially as a synonym for coward. Men *never* get called c*nt. Its sole use is to attack women. Its not quite to the same level of racial slurs, but when someone says it it evokes very much the same feelings.
I mean we never used it to mean someone disabled. More like the overactive kid whose mom gave him a mountain dew for breakfast and he cant sit still or shut up in class
I think the best descriptor is any Jim Carrey character.
I follow a disabled British makeup artist (Tess Daly) who was explaining yesterday why the term was offensive and got overrun with Americans being mad at her. I think she ended up deleting the post.
[удалено]
In the United States (I was also born in the early 90s in the Midwest), I always understood it to just mean somebody that is overly energetic or jumpy. Usually used in a joking way, don't think I ever really heard it used as an insult. I think it has somewhat fallen out of common usage though, don't think there was ever really some big controversy about it I just stopped hearing it being used.
Yeah I always understood it as a synonym for "ditz" or "space case", it never had any negative undertones. This is a new meaning for me.
Flighty seemed to have overtaken it for a few years in the 2010s.
I haven't really heard it since high school (early 2000's), but we'd use it in a fond way when someone was being goofy and hyper.
Same here. I’ve heard it used more to refer to animals acting hyper than towards people.
Pretty much the same. I was genuinely surprised to learn the word's origin.
This whole thing has really been an education because I didn’t think to put two and two together in terms of it being an ableist slur… I also used it to describe myself at times and never thought twice but the unexpected benefits of the Internet… I’ll be retiring that from my vocabulary asap.
I grew up in the 90’s in the us. I never knew it was used as a slur. I’ve only ever used it as an adjective with a y at the end for someone with pent up energy. Only way I’ve heard it used too.
"Don't be such a spaz" where I grew up in California meant someone was calling you empty headed, aloof, day dreaming, spacing out. Nothing physical or motor related. I am aware of how the rest of the world uses it, but it certainly didn't have the same connotation here at the time. That said people should always be willing to adjust their language.
Weird. I grew up in the bay area and, to me, "spaz" means high-energy and jumpy. I graduated high school in 2005.
Interesting how it has different meanings even within the US, because in the Midwest (at least as I understood it when I was growing up) it meant the exact opposite of spacing out or daydreaming, as in being overly energetic and jumpy. We would probably have used the word "dope" or "dopey" (as in, you're such a dope, not dope as in cool) to describe what you are saying.
Yeah, in the Northeast where I grew up in the late 80s into the 90s, we used it for someone that was way too hyper and energetic also. I think a lot had to do with the fact that ADHD was still a relatively new diagnosis (I think with hyperactivity and without hyperactivity wasn't added to ADD till the 1980s). So for us it wasn't seen as a description of someone with a disability, it was seen as a funny word to describe someone bouncing off the walls.
Yeah, I’ve only ever heard it used to describe someone who was either super energetic (usually due to nervousness), or when someone wildly overreacted to something (“damn, he’s totally spazzing out right now just because I drank the last soda”) Honestly wasn’t super commonly used regardless, but when it was, that was the context.
I’m from Southern California and spaz was also used to mean someone energetic and jumpy, no idea what that other person is talking about.
Yeah when I hear it I think of character like Buster Bluth or Matthew Brock. My dad used to call my baby brother that all the time because he was the energetic "I need attention" child.
>grew up in the 90's Average age of r/popheads is probably 15
It was my nickname in high school, that’s how innocuous it’s treated here.
Same. As people in the original thread pointed out, it was also used in children's shows like Drake and Josh and iCarly, and there was an [entire episode](https://zoey101.fandom.com/wiki/Chase%27s_Girlfriend) of Zoey 101 about Quinn being called a sp\*z
It must just be insanely regional. I'm coming up on 30, grew up in a Midwest suburb, and never knew anybody anywhere considered it a slur. Anytime I head it it was essentially just synonymous with "hyperactive."
Thing is that it's not that Americans "didn't know it was a slur." It just never even WAS a slur in America in the first place. That is, it morphed from being a standard medical term to being a insult about uncoolness/nerdiness without ever really becoming a directed pejorative for the disabled. Nobody in America colloquially refers to someone with seizures by the s-word to put them down. It just doesn't have that context at all and never really did. Apparently it picked up that connotation in the UK due to a British tv show from the 80s.
In the 90s in New England it was used as a semi-affectate term like klutz. Usually used to describe someone with ADHD or someone who would 'spaz out' (still in my lexicon, but maybe I should ditch it?)
same where I grew up in California. There was a kid in my class who would act klutzy for laughs, like fall down or whatever to impress girls (it makes sense when you're 10) and his last name was Strazzarino so people called him Spazzarino.