Really Random :p

reminds me of the whole "spastic" thing. in britain "spastic used to be the term for cerebral palsy, and the spastic society was the charity dedicated to helping it's sufferers.

the word took on a new colloquial meaning however, and came to be used to refer to people of any disability, as well as anyone who was deemed stupid or socially awkward (much like the term "retard" is used by some) in essence, it became an all purpose insult for anyone deemed inferior by the user.

as a result of this, the spastics society decided to change its name to "scope" in the mid nineties, both as a form of protest and out of necessity, as the colloquial usage of the term had become so widespread that it had clouded the issue, and basically abandoned the term spastic, because of the derogatory sense in which it was now being used.

some people had the fucking cheek to say things like "what? we can't call 'em spastics anymore? its political correctness gone mad." as if the general trend towards not being a prick to disabled people by calling them something that everyone now deemed incredibly offensive was somehow infringing on their personal liberty.

its up to people to decide what to be offended by. no-ones forcing you to change your vocabulary, just note that the tables are turning, and if you use language that has historically been used to abuse, ostracise and ridicule, those same things may happen to you.

and since that all got a bit serious (and since there's some stand up in this thread already) , here's billy connolly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXEg8d2kYU"]Billy Connolly: Dwarf - YouTube

 

If I recall corectly, Dwarvism is a specific medical condition, in which your body and features are roughly the same size, which doesn't account for all the types of, to be technical being really short. Little people is an all encompassing social phrase.

I figure people should be called what they like... it's generally poor form to walk up to someone and say what are you called. Autophobe says what I was getting at better than I could.

 

Being British as well as being "different" and socially awkward, I know only too well the truth in what you're saying. I was called "spastic" (or more often, the slang version of it, "spazzy") on countless ocassions whilst growing up. It was a very common insult used to demean anyone deemed as inferior by the person saying it. And like you say, it was used in very much the same way that "retard" is used as a catch-all derogatory term by many people today.

Exactly. I find it funny, and more than a little ironic when people coming from a position of power and privilege, start acting as if their liberty is being eroded, when they are called out on their stigmatization of people in vulnerable minority groups. As if somehow, they are the ones being victimised.

And yes, it is up to people who are in misunderstood/oppressed minority groups to decide what they are offended by, not those in the privileged majority. If you bad mouth others, especially for no good reason (and being "different" in an aesthetic sense is definitely not a good reason to bad mouth anybody), then you cannot complain when people do the same thing to you. Although of course, people in a position of privilege tend to be the first ones to complain when they feel their feelings are not given priority over everyone else's.

 

There are two different types. One type has normal sized heads, the other ones have heads that match their body. I think.

Back home there was an entire community in the woods outside of dc, with little houses. It was creepy. We called it midgetville and used to drive in there during high school. They must've hated everyone lol.

 

I remember the sole call I got from my ex-boyfriend after we broke up had to do with two little people who came into the electronics store he worked at and bought a TV from him that was bigger than they were. Man, he was excited. I just hope he didn't refer to them as midgets while they were still in the store. He was 6'2" or so, so I guess being in contact with full-grown adults half his size was almost too much to handle. lol

There aren't a whole lot of little people around here, dwarfs or otherwise, but there are still enough that my mom should really zip it when we're around one and she's just soooo fascinated by the fact that there are indeed people in the world shorter than her (she's 4'10 and has this complex that makes her think it's special). But damn, she always has to be so damn loud about pointing it out. Good god, Mom, yes, there are people in the world that are shorter than you, stop shouting about it.

 

anybody ever watch midget porn?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyYRfRF1NJs"]Black Sabbath - Fairies Wear Boots - YouTube

 

that's what i always thought too, but this thread inspired me to google and it turns out that dwarfs (isn't it dwarves? spell check doesn't think so) are anyone who has one of over 200 conditions that cause them to be under 4'10", including those who are proportional and disproportional.

for the record, i like to be called batman.

 

I like to be called "The most awesome person ever to grace planet Earth with her beauty and shining personality."

 

Not politically correct, ugly mean people will be offended.

 

technically, a dwarf is anyone 4'10 or under, so your mum comes under the heading