The S-Word (Watch out Tiger, the PC crowd is coming...)

BBC ^ | 12 April 2006 | Damon Rose

[elc]

Golfer Tiger Woods has been criticised for saying he played like 'a spaz'. Can using the word ever be right?

Two years ago I was involved in a linguistic incident at work. I called a disabled colleague a spaz after hearing he'd spilt coffee over yet another expensive bit of computer kit.

My colleague laughed it off. It was a friendly bit of banter - spaz in this case meaning I thought he was being a bit of a stereotype like the helpless disabled people you used to see in telethons and charity posters.

I use the term with irony as someone who was regularly called a "spaz" in the school playground, though I'm visually impaired and not what we once called "a spastic".

To confuse the issue, a non-disabled colleague had overheard and told me that she found that term offensive and thanked me not to use it in front of her. I was offended that she was offended because I didn't feel it was her place to be offended... after all, it's not her word and she wouldn't have been taunted with it.

[elc]

When watching his interview during the Masters, Mr. elc (who is British) commented that the spaz comment would not go down well in the UK. It is very, very offensive.

I later heard that the commentators for the channel televising the tournament in the UK apologized for that word being said on live television.

I can't believe this story was linked on Drudge. Is this story going to gather legs???

[HAL9000]

The S-Word (Watch out Tiger, the PC crowd is coming...)

I thought this would be an article about Windows Vista.

[Niteranger68]

He should have said retard so the Brits wouldn't feel so uncomfortable.

[GSWarrior]

That's what I thought, too.

[John O]

Mr. elc (who is British) commented that the spaz comment would not go down well in the UK. It is very, very offensive.

Fortunately for Tiger he was playing in the US. If the Brits choose to be offended they can picket him at the British Open. Until then he has the right to use any words he sees fit.

John Rocker is my hero. He had the guts to speak the truth even if it was un-PC (Hope I have the name right. The baseball player for the yankees a few year back)

[elc]

Oh, I agree. And I doubt Tiger will be losing any sleep over it.

[Texas Eagle]

People who are offended by the word "spaz" are such spazzes.

[elc]

They are probably the type of people who drive around with their spazzard lights blinking when it rains or snows a little too hard.

[Horatio Gates]

Rocker pitched for the Braves. But, yeah, he called it like he saw it alright.

[Texas Eagle]

Exactly. Retards.

[John O]

Rocker pitched for the Braves.

OOPs. Ah well. I hadn't watched baseball since the strike in the 80's that cancelled the season. Why watch grown men get payed millions to play a childs game if all they are going to do is whine about it.

[dfwgator]

John Rocker is my hero. He had the guts to speak the truth even if it was un-PC

Sorry, Rocker is an idiot. And it isn't because of the things he said. And he sucked as a pitcher.

[John O]

And it isn't because of the things he said

Don't know anything about the man other than he played baseball and spoke the truth (at least on that occasion). Don't care if he played well or who he played for for that matter.

[Welsh Rabbit]

When watching his interview during the Masters, Mr. elc (who is British) commented that the spaz comment would not go down well in the UK. It is very, very offensive.

I found out recently, from reading an Irvine Welch novel, that spaz (or spastic) is considered a really bad insult in the UK. Tiger is about my age, and growing up in America, spaz just meant an uncoordinated and uncool person; about on the same level as calling someone a dork. It had nothing to do with being handicapped. There was a Saturday Night Live skit in the early '90s that was a gameshow called "Geek, Dweeb, or Spaz?" where popular kids would decide whether a featured uncool kid would be more accurately described as either a geek, dweeb, or spaz. Very funny.

[Toaster tank]

Tiger, like all colored people, gets a pass. He's assumed to be less intelligent than the average white guy (by the the left-wing thought police) due to his color, therefore incapable of any "insensitive" comment.

[Common Sense 101]

Okay... It looks as though I missed a memo...

1. Exactly WHEN did saying "spaz" become offensive?!

2. WHO and WHY is "spaz" offensive?!

Just STFU...!

[fnord]

Can you ask Mr. elc a question for me?

From the linked article, here are the top ten worst words from their on-line poll:

1. Retard
2. Spastic
3. Window-licker
4. Mong
5. Special
6. Brave
7. Cripple
8. Psycho
9. Handicapped
10. Wheelchair-bound

I can understand why some of these might be considered offensive, or at least insensitive but

Window-licker ??
Mong ??
Brave ??

do these mean something insulting in the UK? please enlighten me ...

[E Rocc]

Sorry, Rocker is an idiot. And it isn't because of the things he said. And he sucked as a pitcher.

Rocker was great when he could focus, but he had this way of creating distractions. When he first came to Cleveland he was lights-out, and extremely popular with Indians fans (remember that he dissed New York, which is kind of like doing so in Boston).

Unfortunately, he did some dumb things which led to further distractions, and he lost his effectiveness.

A friend of mine on another forum goes by the nickname "Spaz"

-Eric

[sono]

Oh C'mon


That's not even one of my seven words.