Different Meanings for Words

[gramma dishes]

That set of drawers that you keep your clothes in...what does everyone call it?

This thing?



A chest of drawers.

To me, it's a dresser.

To me it's a chest of drawers and a dresser is shorter and fatter.  Two rows of three drawers rather than one tall row of five or six drawers.  A dresser also usually has a mirror designed to fit on/over it.

[lollylegs]

That set of drawers that you keep your clothes in...what does everyone call it?

This thing?



A chest of drawers.

To me, it's a dresser.

To me it's a chest of drawers and a dresser is shorter and fatter.  Two rows of three drawers rather than one tall row of five or six drawers.  A dresser also usually has a mirror designed to fit on/over it.

I would call it a chest of drawers and if it had a mirror, it would be a duchess.

[RainhaDoTexugo]

Where I am in the U.S. the term "spastic" is considered extremely offensive.  No one would even think of using it under any circumstances.   

It was originally used to describe people with cerebral palsy, but eventually became a playground insult meaning clutzy or physically less than physically agile and progressed even further to imply additional negative things such as mental retardation.

Interestingly, 'retarded' is a legitimate educational and medical term (I think).  But the word "ret..d" used as an insult is never acceptable, ever.

"Retarded" isn't used as an educational term anymore, as far as I know.  It might still be used if you're talking about, say, retarded growth in plants that don't get enough sun, but I'm pretty sure it's not used as a descriptor for people now.  I could be wrong, though.

[gramma dishes]

"Retarded" isn't used as an educational term anymore, as far as I know. 

You are probably right.  (I haven't been on the educational scene in years.)

But then what wording would one use to indicate to someone who actually needed to know the child's status that his IQ was considerably lower than average? 

For example if Johnny is being considered for Special Ed (which includes many different kinds of children) how would you indicate that that was Johnny's issue rather than being autistic, for example (since autistic children are often extremely bright) and the two would require very different kinds of educational approaches?  What word(s) or phrase has replaced the words 'mentally retarded'?

Please understand that I'm not disagreeing with you, I just need to be brought up to date!!

[RainhaDoTexugo]

Depending on what the actual issue is, you'd use something like cognitively impaired, or developmentally delayed.  My experience is all in regular classrooms, so I don't know all the ins and outs of special education and disabilities.

[PaintingPastelPrincess]

I'd never heard of spastic in conjunction with cerebral palsy, either.  I know it with the meaning of being hyper active or flighty.  For the US eHellions who know is as a derogatory term: where in the US are you?  I'm on the west coast.  In any case, I'll try and break myself of using it.

[RainhaDoTexugo]

I'd never heard of spastic in conjunction with cerebral palsy, either.  I know it with the meaning of being hyper active or flighty.  For the US eHellions who know is as a derogatory term: where in the US are you?  I'm on the west coast.  In any case, I'll try and break myself of using it.

I'm in Chicago.  You have to look at the word origin.  It comes from spasm, and means a person (or colon ) who's having spasms.

[gramma dishes]

I'd never heard of spastic in conjunction with cerebral palsy, either.  I know it with the meaning of being hyper active or flighty.  For the US eHellions who know is as a derogatory term: where in the US are you?  I'm on the west coast.  In any case, I'll try and break myself of using it.

I'm in Illinois, but I must confess that I have specific and rather volatile feelings about that word because I had an incredibly intelligent cousin with cerebral palsy (caused by an accident at birth) and the term "spastic" used as a denigrating term pretty much guaranteed having a younger (and not yet anywhere near being a grandma) Salad Dishes at their throats!!! 

[kareng57]

Depending on what the actual issue is, you'd use something like cognitively impaired, or developmentally delayed.  My experience is all in regular classrooms, so I don't know all the ins and outs of special education and disabilities.

That's true, but really, is "retarded" - the word itself - any more offensive than "delayed"?  They really mean the same thing after all.  My guess is that "retarded" is now considered offensive because of people using the term to slam anything that they don't like i.e. "that's so retarded!"  IMO  - that's the misuse.  I can certainly understand senior citizens using the term simply because they're accustomed to it, and mean no offense. I remember a classmate during the 1970s who mentioned having a retarded younger brother - everyone knew what she meant and no one considered it to be an offensive term at that time.

[kareng57]

I'd never heard of spastic in conjunction with cerebral palsy, either.  I know it with the meaning of being hyper active or flighty.  For the US eHellions who know is as a derogatory term: where in the US are you?  I'm on the west coast.  In any case, I'll try and break myself of using it.

I'm in Illinois, but I must confess that I have specific and rather volatile feelings about that word because I had an incredibly intelligent cousin with cerebral palsy (caused by an accident at birth) and the term "spastic" used as a denigrating term pretty much guaranteed having a younger (and not yet anywhere near being a grandma) Salad Dishes at their throats!!! 

I thought that, at one time, the cerebral-palsy-diagnosis was divided into several subtypes, and one was "spastic".  Of course I'm talking about 70+ years ago, and even then it was probably far too simplistic since no two cases of CP are the same.  Overall though, "spastic" likely did not originate as a derogatory term.  I certainly would not attack/confront a senior citizen who described a childhood friend as having been a "spastic cerebral palsy" patient, for example.

[RainhaDoTexugo]

Depending on what the actual issue is, you'd use something like cognitively impaired, or developmentally delayed.  My experience is all in regular classrooms, so I don't know all the ins and outs of special education and disabilities.

That's true, but really, is "retarded" - the word itself - any more offensive than "delayed"?  They really mean the same thing after all.  My guess is that "retarded" is now considered offensive because of people using the term to slam anything that they don't like i.e. "that's so retarded!"  IMO  - that's the misuse.  I can certainly understand senior citizens using the term simply because they're accustomed to it, and mean no offense. I remember a classmate during the 1970s who mentioned having a retarded younger brother - everyone knew what she meant and no one considered it to be an offensive term at that time.

That's exactly why it's changed.  The actual word isn't the issue, but the common usage has caused issues.  I think most people have more flexibility when it comes to seniors who may have a harder time keeping up with changes after a lifetime of using retarded or colored or any number of other once innocent and now offensive phrases.

[Ereine]

I think part of the "Europe is like one big country" thing is because the entirety of Europe could fit within the continental US.  Even the largest country in Europe, France, is smaller than the two largest US states.  (The smallest is smaller than Washington DC.)  I know it astounds some Europeans that most Americans don't have passports - but many of us live 2+ days' drive from the nearest international border!  That leaves a lot of country to visit without ever leaving the US.

Well, many European countries have had a rather intimate relationship with Russia, which is truly huge. It is probably true that we can't really appreciate the distances, though I think I have some idea I can't of course be sure never having visited the US. I was a bit skeptical though when my sister's fiance was talking about his travel plans. They had something like two or three weeks and were planning a road trip. I think that they arrived in New York and were going to see the South, Las Vegas and California but I think that they actually did see most of what they wanted and were flexible if it seemed like there wasn't enough time.

One thing to keep in mind about the Europe thing when talking about European spelling to mean British English is that many UK folks don't think of themselves as 'European'. There are many who do, of course, but I'd say that many UK folks, when talking about Europe, are referring to 'mainland Europe', ie, the land mass to the right of the English channel. Island mentality, perhaps, but there's still very much a feel of 'the UK and Europe' over here; a feeling of them being separate entities.

How do people from countries in mainland Europe think of themselves? Perhaps that's a topic for a different thread, but I'm curious.

I'm not sure if Finland counts as mainland Europe as it's only connected through Russia and that and the fact that linguistically we belong to the east makes us feel like we're apart from Europe. Though we also feel European but it's common to talk about European things that don't really include us. Like how Finnish drinking habits have become more European (meaning wine instead of vodka or beer) and things like that.

For different words: a language podcast/radio show I like had links to articles on different terms for dressers, with pictures of different types. This one and this one.

[Slartibartfast]

re: the "handicapped" thing - the correct terminology changes pretty quickly, partly because annoying people tend to take whatever the "correct" term is and abuse it as an insult until it's not polite to use anymore    I'm not quite thirty, but I know the terminology has changed two or three times since I first learned it (and that doesn't even take into account the different factions within any social group who can't agree on which terms are "reclaimed" and which are offensive and which are the new polite phrases).  Off the top of my head, during my lifetime the terminology went from "retarded" to "handicapped" to "disabled" to "people with disabilities"( putting the person first).  I think there has also been a healthy dose of "define the specific disability and don't lump them all together" in there, too.

I had a terrible time figuring out the right terminology when I was volunteering at a recent convention - part of my job was to help the people who had mobility issues (people in wheelchairs?  People who used wheelchairs?  Plus people with walkers, canes, recent surgeries, etc.) get appropriate seats for the venue so they wouldn't be trampled by everyone else.  The other volunteers and I finally settled on "the disabled access folks" because calling people "disability services patrons" sounded too hoity-toity.  I know it's entirely possible someone would have been offended by this if they had heard, but it's hard to keep "in the loop" for correct terminology for every group out there!

[Scotty Dog]

The one that caught me out was solicitors.

I couldn't understand why people had signs on their doors saying no solicitors, as to me a solicitor is a type of lawyer.

[Leafy]

"Retarded" isn't used as an educational term anymore, as far as I know. 

You are probably right.  (I haven't been on the educational scene in years.)

But then what wording would one use to indicate to someone who actually needed to know the child's status that his IQ was considerably lower than average? 

For example if Johnny is being considered for Special Ed (which includes many different kinds of children) how would you indicate that that was Johnny's issue rather than being autistic, for example (since autistic children are often extremely bright) and the two would require very different kinds of educational approaches?  What word(s) or phrase has replaced the words 'mentally retarded'?

Please understand that I'm not disagreeing with you, I just need to be brought up to date!!

In Australia the term used is Intellectual Disability - in the educational and disability support areas. I do occasionally see intellectual retardation in US literature so it must still be in use somewhere. It throws me every time I see it as we have been using ID for well over a decade now.