Posted by BeARdEdLaDY on May 23, 2002, at 18:36:16
In reply to all spelling corrections aside, yet... » christophrejmc, posted by kid_A on May 23, 2002, at 18:10:05
Bugged the hell out of me. I know what words mean. It's not my fault other people don't. I should be entitled to pick the best word for the job without worrying that someone will mistake it for another word. Howard didn't deserve what happened to him.
A few years ago, I got an e-mail about having the word picnic removed from the dictionary, as it was offensive to black people for reasons you wouldn't even believe. It was one of those urban legend/hoax things, I think, but so many people actually believed the ridiculous etymology in the e-mail. (And I know some people who believe you can get breast cancer from underarm deodarant and MS from aspartame!)
My final story: A few years ago, one of my students told me I couldn't use the word handicapped. I had to say disabled. When I asked her why, she said, "The government says...." I said, no, I don't care what the government says. What's wrong with the word? "It's offensive." Why? "Because they like disabled better." Why would someone like a word that says he is unable to do something? "Because handicapped," she finally told me, "comes from people standing with their caps in their hands begging for money."
!
It took seconds to disprove this, as I happened to have an article about that very word, as well as three dictionaries, all of which explained that it comes from a game called "hand in cap," in which players draw lots. I told the student that when we handicap a horse, we essentially give it something to make it equal with all the other horses. So if we see handicapped persons as persons so great they were given a slight flaw to make them equal with everyone else, why would anyone want to be called disabled?
beardy : )>
(Facial hair on women? Handicap, not a disability.)
poster:BeARdEdLaDY
thread:5148
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020510/msgs/5212.html