Brady under fire for calling Josh a "spaz" on Sunday's broadcast...

[boyst]

6 minutes ago, Nephilim17 said:

I don't agree. If this is a slur against people with disabilities and most of the non-disabled population aren't aware of that, I think it's basic human respect to listen to the people hurt by it and try to evolve.

The same could be said of a lot of slurs over the decades. If you had a kid who was disabled, or a brother, or an cousin, and this word hurt them, why would you not want people to understand it and try to do better?

Now, if 99% of disabled people have zero problem with the word, it's a different story.

In my opinion. Why decide for others what they should or should not tolerate?

The Internet keeps things forever, social media gives everyone a voice, a simple statement said without prejudice, hate, or any injustice can too easily be bent to infer harm or insult. It is impossible to protect anyone from just the .01%.

 

There are many things we can and cannot say. There are even more things we should and should not say.  There is no barometer, no gauge, no compass on what statements may or may not be approved, approved, or accepted.

 

All we have is a communal sense of moralism and respect we must carry for not just each other but ourselves to encompass that we can forgo empowering those who only want to sew discontent and dishonor the society in which we live.

 

If that was easily possible than we would already be a eutopia.

[bmur66]

So what. Didn't even move my dial during the game

Edited 2 hours ago by bmur66

[Jauronimo]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Correct. It has no gender connotation at all in the UK. It is just the most severe way of calling someone a jerk. I mean it's still a vulgar word and not one I use very often but it doesn't have the cultural sensitivity it does in the US. 

I am still baffled how a vulgar slang term for "*****"/"prostitute" can be said to have no gender connotations.  Gender is the basis for the insult whether the word is directed at a woman or a man.  While I might be able to understand the absence of gender connotations if it were Berkeley, this makes no sense in the UK or anywhere else.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. 

[TheBrownBear]

32 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I explained it above. It is short for spastic which other than its purest medical meaning is a derogatory term for people with certain disabilities. 

I argued with my wife that I wasn't thinking of it in that context, but more generally as "spasm" which can occur with a variety of medical conditions that don't necessarily have disabled vs abled baggage.  For instance, I frequently suffer muscular spasms and cramps during and after exercise due to cancer treatments (radiation) I received in my youth.  I personally didn't find using the term to mean "involuntary freakout" (which is how I used to use it) offensive within that framing, but upon reflection I totally understood how offense could be taken by those living with cerebral palsy, since  spastic diplegia is a defining and ever present feature of the condition.  Point being - I no longer use the term.

[TheBrownBear]

30 minutes ago, folz said:

It has been used in writing and poetry, like "spasms of joy" "spasms of love" "a spasm of fear" "spasms of guilt"...but now a writer can no longer use the word because a later connotation of the word has been linked to a medical condition and someone with that condition may now feel that you are mocking them?

There is not a single person in the world that is trying to inhibit or shame anyone from using "spasm" in any of those contexts. Let's not be disingenuous.

[Buffalo716]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I explained it above. It is short for spastic which other than its purest medical meaning is a derogatory term for people with certain disabilities. 

Yes but United Kingdom vernacular and American English vernacular are completely different 

 

I'm not saying the word can't be used derogatorily.. but it has close to 70 years use in America not related to disabilities 

 

In the '50s teenagers use the word spaz as the opposite of tough

 

In the 1960s the American editor for Oxford dictionary said that there was a shift in the American meaning of the word.. going from spastic which could relate to cerebral palsy... Too nerdy weird or uncool 

 

It is all so became a word for uncoordinated 

 

Some words in Australian English are considered normal but derogatory in America.. the English that the people in England speak is also not the same as American English.. over hundreds of years slang and even how words are used or changed

 

I don't even like Tom Brady but I don't think he used the word in relation to a disability .. saying Josh plays like he has cerebral palsy 

 

I think it was more along the lines of how old Josh would be all over the place uncontrolled

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Buffalo716

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Yes but United Kingdom vernacular and American English vernacular are completely different 

 

I'm not saying the word can't be used derogatorily.. but it has close to 70 years use in America not related to disabilities 

 

In the '50s teenagers use the word spaz as the opposite of tough

 

In the 1960s the American editor for Oxford dictionary said that there was a shift in the American meaning of the word.. going from spastic which could relate to cerebral palsy... Too nerdy weird or uncool 

 

Some words in Australian English are considered normal but derogatory in America.. the English that the people in England speak is also not the same as American English.. over hundreds of years slang and even how words are used or changed

 

But the word Brady used and it's connotation is not related to somebody with cerebral palsy anymore by an American standard

 

 

I get that. I said it earlier. I can't retype my whole post every time someone asks me the same question over and over.

[Buffalo716]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I get that. I said it earlier. I can't retype my whole post every time someone asks me the same question over and over.

True 

 

You know.. he's a commentator or a color analyst or whatever you want to call it 

 

So he should probably be more careful..  I understand it's definitely touchy 

 

But I don't think he was comparing him to somebody with palsy, he definitely could have used a better word 

 

Chicken with his head cut off

Edited 1 hour ago by Buffalo716

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I am still baffled how a vulgar slang term for "*****"/"prostitute" can be said to have no gender connotations.  Gender is the basis for the insult whether the word is directed at a woman or a man.  While I might be able to understand the absence of gender connotations if it were Berkeley, this makes no sense in the UK or anywhere else.

 

Because in the same way you were unaware of the origin of "spaz" the overwhelming majority of Brits would be totally unaware that it is a slang word for the female private parts it really is never used in the context anymore. It was 100 odd years ago, that is the etymology, but it isn't now. And the c word as slang for postitute is an American thing. It doesn't have that meaning in British English and never has.

 

1 minute ago, Buffalo716 said:

True 

 

You know.. he's a commentator or a color analyst or whatever you want to call it 

 

So he should probably be more careful..  I understand it's definitely touchy 

 

But I don't think he was comparing him to somebody with palsy

 

Nor do I.

[behind a post WMS69]

1 hour ago, Pasaluki said:

 

I bet you worship the metric system too. 

 

Might as well start drinking tea and eating crumpets you anglophile.

Lol!

 

Born and raised in Buffalo, and the closest I come to being an anglophile is liking Monty Python!

 

YouTube is loaded with videos explaining why the rest of the world, not just England, pronounces it that way. But thanks for playing!

[Wacka]

Jimmy Spags is a spaz though.😀

[Johnnycage46]

I didn't even know that that word had been added to the "outrage list". I've used it probably thousands of times in my life and at no point did I have any medical condition or disability in mind when I used it to refer to someone. I usually just used it for someone who was "freaking out".

[Goin Breakdown]

In Vietnam crossing your fingers is insulting to woman. So yeah good luck with that. 

[Amorgus]

When I was a kid I'd "spaz out" when I get really annoyed by someone, usually my brother. I'd go into a full on Donald Duck tantrum, swearing, kicking, tantrum. As an adult who cannot strike people anymore, I have to resort to sarcastically singing and dancing. But yeah, we never used it as a synonym for clumsy. It was a synonym for tantrum.

[folz]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I explained it above. It is short for spastic which other than its purest medical meaning is a derogatory term for people with certain disabilities. 

 

This is not true. There is a meaning that has nothing to do with the medical meaning and is not a slur to anyone with a medical condition.

 

52 minutes ago, TheBrownBear said:

There is not a single person in the world that is trying to inhibit or shame anyone from using "spasm" in any of those contexts. Let's not be disingenuous.

 

I'm just saying that the way that Brady used the word (or slang form of the word, "spaz") was true to the words original definition, "sudden, energetic action" and that definition has nothing to do with muscle spasms or someone with MS or cerebral palsy. So, why should HE be inhibited or shamed for it? 

 

It would be like chastising a person if they used the word ***** to actually describe a pile of sticks (not that anyone ever does these days), rather than using it as a slur against someone who is gay.

 

Would people be offended if someone said, "His actions were spastic?" Probably. But they shouldn't. According to the dictionary/definition, someone can be spastic in their actions and it is not a slur against someone who has involuntary muscle spasms. It just means that their actions were quick and energetic (maybe a bit chaotic...or violent if you go back to the Latin root). It's two different things, two different definitions.

 

And true, let's not be disingenuous here, if you start shaming people for using a certain word, eventually people become afraid to use the word in any context. I'm not saying the medical use wouldn't still be used, but the other definition of the word (which is actually the older definition/use of the word) will start disappearing. How many definitions of words do we have to erase before no one's feelings are hurt? It's a slippery slope.

[Pasaluki]

24 minutes ago, behind a post WMS69 said:

Lol!

 

Born and raised in Buffalo, and the closest I come to being an anglophile is liking Monty Python!

 

YouTube is loaded with videos explaining why the rest of the world, not just England, pronounces it that way. But thanks for playing!

 

This is getting way too pedantic but...

 

*pushes up glasses*

Actually in the original source of Principles of Chemical Philosophy of 1821 the author (Sir Humphrey Davy) describes the metal discovered and names it "aluminum"

 

American English preserves this 1812 spelling and pronunciation of the word. 

 

All this for a throwaway joke because it's said differently in other areas but I don't follow the metric system or watch soccer because other countries are obsessed with them and neither am I going to even cede that aluminum is wrong when the entomology of the word suggests it was changed multiple times from the person who discovered it and wanted to make a cool Latin sounding word without knowing Latin. 

 

The oldest version and first use of the word is actually alumium. 

[MJS]

1 hour ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. 

That's definitely not the case anymore. Words are violence now. Haven't you heard?

[BUFFALOBART]

I like my nothing burger’s plain

[Big Turk]

People need to find something to do in life other than get offended by everything. SMFH