theHword.com

Blonde. Lame. Retarded. Gay. When did these words come to be used to describe stupid situations? As in: “That’s so gay.” Or “I had a blonde moment.” Language changes all the time, and that’s a good thing. We don’t want to be walking around saying, “What ho! Pray, whither be the privy?”

Okay, that’s just silly. But that’s how far our language has come in only a few hundred years, and from Old English and Germanic origins before that. But let’s focus on the recent past.

What ever happened to “swell” and “square” and “hip” and “rad”? Those and many other slang words and expressions have mostly fallen out of use. It’s the natural cycle. Other words have been consciously abandoned because of their derogatory or disrespectful nature. Think racial epithets and demeaning gender terms. People came to realize that some words weren’t acceptable to reference whole demographic groups. So why are some derogatory terms in common use now? We can decide to choose our own words respectfully, regardless of trends. Some things to think about…

Blonde jokes are multi-layered. Do you think of a blond man when you hear one? Most people don’t. So we demean both women and blondes when we tell or laugh at those jokes. Side note: ‘blonde’ with an ‘e’ usually refers to women, and ‘blond’ without ‘e’ refers to men. Can you think of any other words in the American language describing physical characteristics that are gender-specific? Hm.

Webster dictionary defines ‘lame’ as inferior, weak, and nasty, among others. So I’m not sure what to say except, why not just use those words instead, since they don’t also define individuals with physical disabilities?

It makes me cringe to even type the word “retarded.” It’s not a nice word, and it’s usually directed at another person. It’s no longer used professionally to describe people with cognitive or mental disabilities. We can pretty much omit this word from our vocabularies.

Some high school students I know initiated a campaign in their school to “Find Another Word.” They were fed up with hearing “that’s so gay” in a derogatory sense. They spoke up and started a school-wide effort to curb the use of that term. When these students heard someone use the phrase, they’d ask, “what do you mean by that?” or “could you please find another word?” They got people thinking, spurred cooperation by the faculty and administration, and changed the school community for the better.

The Oxford Dictionary lists over 170,000 words in common use. Plenty to choose from without demeaning anyone. Thesaurus.com lists 29 synonyms for “stupid” in the main entry, plus 75 cross-referenced entries. Not one of them is “gay.” Some of my favorites are vapid, banal, and asinine. When I entered “so gay” it asked me if I meant “soggy.”

It’s easy to mess up and hurt someone with words. All we can do is pay attention and try to choose our words with respect. I write this as food for thought and I welcome your response.

Sources:

• http://www.etymonline.com/
• http://m-w.com/
• http://thesaurus.reference.com/
• http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2504.html
• http://www.thinkb4youspeak.com/psa.asp?play=tvspots&video=TV_Pizza_30

About the author: Amy Sandeen

Amy Sandeen is the Executive Director of Prairie Loft Center for Outdoor and Agricultural Learning. Amy grew up in Hastings, then lived in Minneapolis/ St. Paul for 18 years before returning to her roots. She is fascinated by the nature of humans and our relationship to the world.