Avron the S'wit wrote:Ahem. Let's be more careful with our adjectives. Some members might feel offended by your choices, you too.
I find so many things about this amusing that I have to dwell on it a moment. First, I have worked extensively with "them," particularly troubled "thems," for years and I found the experience incredibly rewarding. And, despite the occasional friction (ranging from not wanting to go to bed to punching me in the face because they were bored), I have a great deal of respect for "them."
Second, if you were just trying to change my language without censoring my meaning (which, in my opinion, is like trying to gloss over the fact that "they" exist, as if there's something unpleasant or profane about "them"), then "borderline" should have been changed to "incredibly." Because I didn't mean "borderline stupid," I meant a great deal above and beyond merely stupid. I meant, well, "them." So the only thing I regret is my vagueness; I should've used the qualifier "mentally" beforehand.
Third, I might use a different word when you guys can settle on something. I don't attach negative connotations to this word you don't like so much, because it is, in fact,
supposed to be the politically correct term. Before this word, "they" were called idiots. But when this replacement also became attached with perjorative connotations, the politically correct choice was changed and changed again and again. Handicapped, special, disabled, mentally challenged, persons with disabilities, persons with challenges, and the list goes on and on. Use any of these terms long enough, and they will gain a perjorative connotation. The solution, then, is not to change our language, but to maintain respect and understanding of "them," so that when someone like me refers to "them" in a reasonable, honest way in the course of conversation, it's not assumed that I trying to belittle or degrade "them" by referencing their existence in a way that's not the flavor of the month.
In short, if people don't like me for using that word, then let them not like me. That word is not profanity, it's merely (wrongfully) perceived as politically incorrect. It's your hangup, not mine. Again, I'm simply amused by all this, not angry. Sometimes that doesn't translate well.
And Crocodile Dundee was wonderful too.
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