5 ms·

> not calling people crazy Wait until they realize that every single fucking insult in existence is equally "able-ist", by definition, or otherwise offensive i

> not calling people crazy Wait until they realize that every single fucking insult in existence is equally "able-ist", by definition, or otherwise offensive in some way. Is the expectation that we slowly disallow insults in culture? No, it's going to be arbitrary whitelisting. Stupid (there I go being ableist). A change like this doesn't work as intended without fundamentally changing the narrative. If a character was insulting someone, they should still be insulting someone. Want the story to be different? Write a different fucking book.

wyager 4y ago
> Is the expectation that we slowly disallow insults in culture The current equilibrium seems to be that we're on a sort of vulgar treadmill. The process goes as follows: 1. Decide that previously formal/medical/technical word like "idiot" has developed too many colloquial negative connotations. 2. Invent new formal term, like "mentally retarded", and tell people that they have to use that instead, because the old term is now considered offensive. 3. Because connotation emerges from denotation, the new term develops precisely the same colloquial negative connotations. 4. Rinse and repeat.
- vore 4y ago
  The euphemism treadmill is not even just a contemporary phenomenon: it's age-old and not even exclusive to English.
TaylorAlexander 4y ago
[flagged]
- undersuit 4y ago
  >potato-head You'll need to adjust your language as the language has changed. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-can-count-to-potato https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-can-count-to-potato https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/acprjo/how_did_potato_become_an_insult_for_someone_whos/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/acprjo/how_did_p... Frankly any insult that attacks intelligence in any way is going to be ableist. Attack the merits or lack thereof of the argument.
  - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
    Its true that potato head might be borderline. I suppose I prefer to make the effort and adjust my choices when someone points out my error, than make no effort and ignore feedback I am getting from others. Potato head was new to me and seemed like a good idea, and I did use it against myself. I generally will not insult anyone else's intelligence, but I do suppose that calling myself a potato head might perpetuate that kind of thing. Thanks for the suggestion!
    - jessekv 4y ago
      To me, git is ageist.
      - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
        That’s fair. Where I grew up no one uses that, I just pulled it from some suggestions on Reddit. I’m not actually familiar with how it’s used.
    - aflag 4y ago
      Doesn't fool fall in the same category?
      - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
        I think of a fool as someone who makes a bad choice, but this isn’t the same as intelligence. Someone can be very smart and very foolish. Also a typo made me realize that “tool” is perhaps a good non ableist insult.
    - kgwgk 4y ago
      Fool, silly and goofball are even less subtle. Useless seems the epitome of ableism, but what do I know - here it’s presented as a good alternative to ableist words: https://web.augsburg.edu/english/writinglab/Avoiding_Ableist_Language.pdf https://web.augsburg.edu/english/writinglab/Avoiding_Ableist...
- 0xdeadfa65 4y ago
  You like changing your language because you convinced yourself that you’re part of the crew getting to make the changes. Just wait until you’re on the receiving end. Or even better forced to speak a different language, you don’t know, which has happened before under the banner of progress.
  - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
    On the receiving end of what exactly? Does it feel worse to be called a fool rather than an idiot? I don’t see what you’re getting at. > forced to speak a different language It’s very weird to me that you view my choice to use different words as somehow forcing something on others. Culture shifts and changes and there are always people responsible for participating in those changes. Yes sometimes people have used violence to change the language and of course that has generally been horrific. But my choice to simply tweet differently is well within the bounds of the type of normal human change that happens in a healthy society. I’m not forcing anyone to do anything.
    - pnut 4y ago
      The "receiving end" comment was about what happens when society decides that your thought patterns make you a bigot, and you fundamentally disagree. Lots of older people have this experience as the world changes out from under them.
    - DonHopkins 4y ago
      [flagged]
- frankluntzPOLLS 4y ago
  hey, you illiterate racist dogshit mongrel https://www.irishpost.com/news/irish-potato-head-mum-asks-irish-insults-scrapped-sons-bugsy-malone-school-play-172917 https://www.irishpost.com/news/irish-potato-head-mum-asks-ir...
- tekla 4y ago
  > Most of us stopped using “retard” a long time ago for example This never happened Its actually hilarious to me that the words you list out could all mostly be incredibly offensive to certain types of people, but you think its ok since its not "ableist". Really points out how stupid policing literal insults is
soheil 4y ago
If you're right then "able-ist" itself would be an insult and won't be allowed, thus it won't be possible to disallow insults. qed
- slothtrop 4y ago
  Able-ist is a criticism.

wyager 4y ago

> Is the expectation that we slowly disallow insults in culture The current equilibrium seems to be that we're on a sort of vulgar treadmill. The process goes as follows: 1. Decide that previously formal/medical/technical word like "idiot" has developed too many colloquial negative connotations. 2. Invent new formal term, like "mentally retarded", and tell people that they have to use that instead, because the old term is now considered offensive. 3. Because connotation emerges from denotation, the new term develops precisely the same colloquial negative connotations. 4. Rinse and repeat.

vore 4y ago
The euphemism treadmill is not even just a contemporary phenomenon: it's age-old and not even exclusive to English.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago

[flagged]

undersuit 4y ago
>potato-head You'll need to adjust your language as the language has changed. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-can-count-to-potato https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-can-count-to-potato https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/acprjo/how_did_potato_become_an_insult_for_someone_whos/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/acprjo/how_did_p... Frankly any insult that attacks intelligence in any way is going to be ableist. Attack the merits or lack thereof of the argument.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  Its true that potato head might be borderline. I suppose I prefer to make the effort and adjust my choices when someone points out my error, than make no effort and ignore feedback I am getting from others. Potato head was new to me and seemed like a good idea, and I did use it against myself. I generally will not insult anyone else's intelligence, but I do suppose that calling myself a potato head might perpetuate that kind of thing. Thanks for the suggestion!
  - jessekv 4y ago
    To me, git is ageist.
    - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
      That’s fair. Where I grew up no one uses that, I just pulled it from some suggestions on Reddit. I’m not actually familiar with how it’s used.
  - aflag 4y ago
    Doesn't fool fall in the same category?
    - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
      I think of a fool as someone who makes a bad choice, but this isn’t the same as intelligence. Someone can be very smart and very foolish. Also a typo made me realize that “tool” is perhaps a good non ableist insult.
  - kgwgk 4y ago
    Fool, silly and goofball are even less subtle. Useless seems the epitome of ableism, but what do I know - here it’s presented as a good alternative to ableist words: https://web.augsburg.edu/english/writinglab/Avoiding_Ableist_Language.pdf https://web.augsburg.edu/english/writinglab/Avoiding_Ableist...
0xdeadfa65 4y ago
You like changing your language because you convinced yourself that you’re part of the crew getting to make the changes. Just wait until you’re on the receiving end. Or even better forced to speak a different language, you don’t know, which has happened before under the banner of progress.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  On the receiving end of what exactly? Does it feel worse to be called a fool rather than an idiot? I don’t see what you’re getting at. > forced to speak a different language It’s very weird to me that you view my choice to use different words as somehow forcing something on others. Culture shifts and changes and there are always people responsible for participating in those changes. Yes sometimes people have used violence to change the language and of course that has generally been horrific. But my choice to simply tweet differently is well within the bounds of the type of normal human change that happens in a healthy society. I’m not forcing anyone to do anything.
  - pnut 4y ago
    The "receiving end" comment was about what happens when society decides that your thought patterns make you a bigot, and you fundamentally disagree. Lots of older people have this experience as the world changes out from under them.
  - DonHopkins 4y ago
    [flagged]
frankluntzPOLLS 4y ago
hey, you illiterate racist dogshit mongrel https://www.irishpost.com/news/irish-potato-head-mum-asks-irish-insults-scrapped-sons-bugsy-malone-school-play-172917 https://www.irishpost.com/news/irish-potato-head-mum-asks-ir...
tekla 4y ago
> Most of us stopped using “retard” a long time ago for example This never happened Its actually hilarious to me that the words you list out could all mostly be incredibly offensive to certain types of people, but you think its ok since its not "ableist". Really points out how stupid policing literal insults is

soheil 4y ago

If you're right then "able-ist" itself would be an insult and won't be allowed, thus it won't be possible to disallow insults. qed

slothtrop 4y ago
Able-ist is a criticism.