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Forums - Politics Discussion - 'Mentally Retarded' a Banned Phrase

 

Should non-offensive words that are used offensively be banned?

Yes. 23 13.29%
 
No. 105 60.69%
 
Only for some words. 13 7.51%
 
Who cares? 29 16.76%
 
Other. 3 1.73%
 
Total:173
The_Yoda on 12 February 2015
Kemsus said:
i believe in freedom of language and i hate political correctness, no phrases should be banned ever.
You might get in trouble if you say some stuff(threats, trying to stir up violence) but all this PC nonsense needs to stop, there is a saying in Denmark "kald en spade for en spade" which rougly translates to" call a shovel a shovel" don't bubblewrap what you say because some might get offended.


I'll second the bolded, I'd just add that people using those phrases should be considered low lifes if their intent was to hurt.



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Cobretti2 on 13 February 2015
LemonSlice said:
Cobretti2 said:

Actually a faggot is also a bunch of sticks

so for example if i were to say

A gay fairy penguine is carrying a faggot to build a nest.

In the modern world people would think i mean homosexual 3 times in that sentence.

i.e. gay (aka happy), fairy (when did this word become purely associated with gay people aka now called little penguin) and faggot.

It's "fairy", not ferry. Ferry is a boat that ferries you from land to land across water. Fairies are graceful and magical creatures of folklore. Not such a bad thing to be compared against actually, probably owing to the generally more flamboyant nature of gay men.

yes indeed it is i wrote this when i woke up.



 

 

Nettles on 13 February 2015

No, to do so is totalitarian fascism.
Yes, fag can mean cigarette.Faggot can also mean a bunch of sticks or a meatball.
Ban a word and the control freaks will move on to another thing, it's a slippery slope.



generic-user-1 on 13 February 2015
Nettles said:
No, to do so is totalitarian fascism.
Yes, fag can mean cigarette.Faggot can also mean a bunch of sticks or a meatball.
Ban a word and the control freaks will move on to another thing, it's a slippery slope.

Fascism is a doubleplusungood word!  Using it is Crimethink!  take care Miniluv is coming for you.





Jon-Erich on 13 February 2015

This makes me think of George Carlin's segment on euphemisms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvISFZ7bQcE

What's really sad is that show was from 25 years ago and it sounds like it was from yesterday. I think it's stupid. Every time something becomes offensive, a new phrase has to be created. What people don't realize is that this whole political correctness bullshit has two distinct flaws. First, words by themselves aren't bad. It's the intent behind the words that make them good or bad. Being mentally retarded can be an insult or a genuine classification. By giving into the insult, you're effectively changing the definition of an otherwise harmless word. Secondly, by changing the term to something softer, you're removing the direct, emotional impact of the word and effectively hiding the truth behind the word. As we have seen in the past, does some who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder really sound as bad as someone who was shell shocked? They're the same thing but I bet anyone would pay more attention to the more direct words "shell shocked".

The same can be said about "mentally retarded" vs "intellectually disabled". When I think of someone who's mentally retarded, I think of someone who has a genuine problem and is in need of assistance. When I think of someone who's intellectually disabled, I think people who enjoy watching Michael Bay movies and the Jerry Springer Show. This is because being intellectually disabled is such a non offensive, non descriptive term to the point where it could mean anything and the impact that the word retarded has just isn't there.



Check out my art blog: http://jon-erich-art.blogspot.com

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SlayerRondo on 13 February 2015
Ka-pi96 said:
IFireflyl said:

I have some English friends that still call cigarettes 'faggots'.

I think you mean fags. Faggots are something completely different (they are food).

Or a bag of twigs.



This is the Game of Thrones

Where you either win

or you DIE

SlayerRondo on 13 February 2015

That's retarded



This is the Game of Thrones

Where you either win

or you DIE

generic-user-1 on 13 February 2015
SlayerRondo said:
That's retarded


thats Crimethink...



Moneybags on 13 February 2015
binary solo said:
Ka-pi96 said:
IFireflyl said:

I have some English friends that still call cigarettes 'faggots'.

I think you mean fags. Faggots are something completely different (they are food).

Actually a faggot is an archaic unit of measure for a bunch of sticks. Perhaps from back when bunches of stick were worth something.

When a word has both a legitimatre non-offensive use and an offensive demeaning use then it is not unreasonable to ban a word when used in a demeaning context, but that does not completely prevent the use in a legitimal non-offensive context.

In many parts of the world they still are. I know what you mean tho. I'm just sayin'...



Moneybags on 13 February 2015
badgenome said:
I can understand why they do it, but it always strikes me as silly. As soon as you change the preferred word, the new word will become just as abused and mocked because the people themselves are the objects of scorn.

There is actually a word that describes this very cycle. Anyone Know it off the top of your heads?