Spastic (word)
In
spastikos ("drawing in", "tugging" or "shaking uncontrollably").Colloquially, the noun spastic, originally a medical term, is now pejorative; though severity of this differs between the United States and the United Kingdom. Disabled people in the United Kingdom often consider "spastic" to be one of the most offensive terms related to disability.[2][3]
UK and Ireland
The medical term "spastic" came into use to describe
Although the word has a much longer history, its
In 1994, the same year that
The video game Mario Party 8 features a scene of the board Shy Guy's Perplex Express where the character Kamek casts a spell to switch train cars, being "Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" Because of this, Mario Party 8 was recalled in the UK but was rereleased, replacing spastic with erratic.[12]
United States
In American slang, the term 'spaz' has evolved from a derogatory description of people with disabilities, and is generally understood as a casual word for clumsiness, otherness, sometimes associated with overexcitability, excessive startle response ("jumpiness"), excessive energy, involuntary or random movement, or hyperactivity. Some of these associations use the symptoms of cerebral palsy and other related disabilities as insults.
Its usage has been documented as far back as the mid-1950s.[13] In 1965, film critic
Later in 1978, Steve Martin introduced a character Charles Knerlman, a.k.a. "Chaz the Spaz" on Saturday Night Live, in a skit with Bill Murray called "Nerds". Bill Murray later starred in the movie Meatballs, which had a character named "Spaz".[16] Both shows portrayed a "spaz" as a nerd, or somebody uncool in a comic setting, reinforcing the more casual negative use of the term in the United States by using it in a popular comedy.[13]
The term still occasionally appears in North American movies or TV series, such as
The difference in qualitative assessment of the term between British and American audiences is demonstrated by reactions to comments by golfer
Shortly after
Australia
In Australian English, for some time, terms such as "spastic" and "crippled" were considered the proper words to describe persons with various disabilities and even appeared on traffic signs warning drivers of such persons near the road. More recently, these terms have fallen out of use and replaced with the more socially acceptable and generic "disabled". The word "spastic" became so negatively loaded that The Spastic Society of Victoria had to change their name to Scope.[26]
Product names including the term "spaz"
Multiple products in the United States have names including the word 'spaz'.
Controversy arises if products are sold in the UK under the same name. In particular the manufacturers and importers of the Spazz wheelchair were criticised by the British charity Scope when they put the wheelchair on sale in the UK.[27] Scope expressed a fear that such a brand would spur use of the word again as an insult. Such negative usage had declined since the 1980s.[28]
A caffeinated lip balm created by a police officer is called "SpazzStick."[29]
The
On 29 June 2007, Ubisoft of France pulled one of their games called
See also
References
- PMID 25750484.
- ^ a b Murphy, M Lynne (28 February 2007). "spastic, learning disability". Separated by a Common Language. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
- ^ a b BBC (2003). "Worst Word Vote". Ouch. Archived from the original on 20 March 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
- ^ "The Economist in the Twentieth Century". The Economist. Vol. 173. Economist Newspaper Limited. University of Michigan. 1954. p. 472. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
CHRISTY BROWN is not strictly a spastic. But the word has now come to be used to cover all forms of cerebral palsy — the medical term for the effects produced by some types of brain maldevelopment or by brain injury at birth.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 1989.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-39946-6.
- ^ Rose, Damon (13 April 2006). "The s-word". BBC News. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
- ^ Hansard. "House of Commons Hansard", Column 544, on 11 May,
- ^ "Language Log: A Brief History of "Spaz". Retrieved 29 August 2023.
Oxford English Dictionary editor Robert W. Burchfield wrote in a note appended to the entry for spastic, the epithet "is generally condemned as a tasteless expression, and is not common in print."
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-317-62512-4.
- ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (27 July 2007). "Non-'spastic' Mario Party 8 returns Aug. 8 to Europe". Weblogs, Inc. Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
- ^ Zimmer, Benjamin (5 February 2007). "A brief history of 'spaz'". Language Log. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
- Zimmer, Benjamin (13 April 2006). "Parents will never be cool". Language Log. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
- Zimmer, Benjamin (23 June 2005). "spaz(z), n." Newsletter. American Dialect Society. Archived from the originalon 3 November 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
- ^ "Meatballs (1979)". IMDb. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
- ^ Hoyle, Ben (24 June 2009). "British Board of Film Classification tightens age rating guidelines". Times Online. London, UK. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- ^ "Rugrats: Tales from the Crib Snow White". BBFC. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
- ^ "Agent: Tiger sorry for 'spaz' remark". SI.com. 13 April 2006. Archived from the original on 21 April 2006. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "Tanni criticises 'stupid' Tiger". BBC Sport. 12 April 2006. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
- ^ Tucker, Rebecca (21 July 2014). "Weird Al apologizes for offending with 'spastic' lyric in Word Crimes parody". National Post. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ "Fans ask Lizzo to remove song over offensive lyric". BBC News. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Lizzo is changing the lyrics to her 'Grrrls' single following criticism over ableism". NBC News. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Lizzo changes lyrics of new song 'Grrrls' to remove 'ableist slur'". TODAY. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- Insider.com. Insider Inc. Archivedfrom the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "Why the words matter". www.abc.net.au. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "James Meek: You're better off with a Spazz". the Guardian. 16 October 2005. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- Glasgow, Scotland. Archived from the originalon 20 December 2005.
- ^ "SpazzStick dot com: The world's only caffeinated lip balm!". Retrieved 7 June 2007.
- ^ "Brain game pulled over 'offence'". BBC News. 29 June 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
- MCV. Retrieved 23 May 2016.