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‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

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Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#41

Post by perilunar »

bananarchist wrote: post #3
Freak_NL wrote: post #2

Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…

John McWhorter refers to it as the Euphemism Treadmill but I can't say if it's a widely accepted term in the field

Coined by Stephen Pinker in 1994 apparently: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill

Also known as "euphemism cycle": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#42

Post by perilunar »

When I was a kid "handicapped" was common, but then it became regarded as offensive and was replaced by "disabled". I thought at the time it was silly, as abled/disabled was pretty binary ('dis-' = 'not'), whereas "handicap" covers a whole range, and encourages us to think of ways to "level the paying field".

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#43

Post by hemreldop »

crystoloxy wrote: post #37
baix777 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does signal what type of person you are dealing with if they don't go along with the word change. For example, if I heard someone using the negro word I would think that there was an excellent chance that person was racist. The renaming also signals to everyone racism isn't acceptable (in a very minor way). It is hard to change a culture but the words we use in one of the ways we do it. When the world stops bein…

> When the world stops being racist this renaming will stop. As well say “renaming will not stop.” Something will always be wrong to someone. Change will always be right to someone.

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Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#44

Post by dTal »

matt-attack wrote: post #25
Freak_NL wrote: post #2

Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…

Yep I've observed and described this process myself over the years. look at: > "negro" => "colored" => "black" => "African American" => "person of color" It's pretty inane when you think about it. At some point wouldn't people start noting that, hey, you're trying to solve something clearly, but what you're attempting to do is clearly not the right approach.

I'm not sure about your example - "black" and "African American" are still perfectly acceptable terms, or did I miss something?

Regardless, it may be the case that a permanent state of euphemism treadmilling does solve a problem - a social signal, perhaps, to distinguish those who embrace social change and those who resist it. It's pretty effective at that too.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#45

Post by Gibbon1 »

matt-attack wrote: post #25
Freak_NL wrote: post #2

Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…

Yep I've observed and described this process myself over the years. look at: > "negro" => "colored" => "black" => "African American" => "person of color" It's pretty inane when you think about it. At some point wouldn't people start noting that, hey, you're trying to solve something clearly, but what you're attempting to do is clearly not the right approach.

It's the euphemism treadmill.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#46

Post by [deleted] »

matt-attack wrote: post #25
Freak_NL wrote: post #2

Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…

Yep I've observed and described this process myself over the years. look at: > "negro" => "colored" => "black" => "African American" => "person of color" It's pretty inane when you think about it. At some point wouldn't people start noting that, hey, you're trying to solve something clearly, but what you're attempting to do is clearly not the right approach.

[deleted]

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#47

Post by dTal »

stjohnswarts wrote: post #40

Like most of these wokisms, it's not about bettering the situation or lives, it's more about complying with a singly-minded mindset of a singular world view that wokists would have us all hold. It's the same way with any cult (whether religious or social). When you control words and vocabulary you are just one step from controlling thoughts.

>When you control words and vocabulary you are just one step from controlling thoughts.

Yes? That's the entire point. Language shapes thought, and so word choice matters, and so there is a movement to be mindful of word choices. It's not a "cult" or dystopian thought control because it's completely democratic - people have every right to shame each other for poor word choices. "Wokists" aren't some cabal, manipulatively pulling strings from behind a shadowy curtain - these views only have power because they're held by a lot of people.

If you want to convince people to do things differently, you'll have to address their views on their own merits. Attacking the basic principle of social enforcement of moral values won't accomplish anything.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#48

Post by mjbeswick »

tintedfireglass wrote: post #34

I'm India the official term used and promoted by the government is "specially abled"

That doesn't make sense as a disability is a lack of ability.

It sounds like a copy of the British term "special needs" used to refer to someone with cognitive impairment, sometimes shorted in conversion by people as "special".

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#49

Post by remram »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #28
remram wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you post this? What is the substance of your comment, were I to look past the sarcasm?

That there is simply no practical limit to removing everything from public discourse/language that it is possible to take offense to.

This is a post about not doing that.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#50

Post by wcarron »

wahern wrote: post #19
threads2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jokes like this are differently abled

It would work better as stand-up comedy, when expectations are differently calibrated.

You're correct in that my idea for ever telling that in person involves standup. It doesn't present very well outside of that setting, as you surmised
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