Then you will have no problem with me telling you that I personally find the word offensive, having relatives who are mentally retarded (tech term, prefer develpomentally disabled. And his stems from his autism) and work with kids who are also in the same boat. To those of us who do it has nothing to do with political corectness and EVERYTHING to do with the pin and confussion it engenders in the people of this community.
You are free to speak how you want. The rest of us are likewise free to call you a douche, asshat, insensitive jerkwad, and other less pleasant things...in a joking manner of course. And if you don't like it, well then you can toughen up and grow a set.:biggrin:
The smilie makes what i say a-okay!
I have no problem with you telling me you find the word offensive, nor do I have any problem with you getting yourself all in a dither over other people's use of it...
If you want to complicate your life by imagining others are doing you harm by 'saying' things, that's your prerogative.
I consider it a total waste of effort and nothing but looking for reasons to be angry, upset, or miserable... but hey... you can suffer in any way you insist on.
I do have a problem, however, when oversensitive folks like you try to pass legislation policing other persons' thoughts or opinions. ( not saying you, yourself would do this)
I do have a problem when you try to punish others, or otherwise make them suffer, for not being sensitive in the same manner that You are.
Free speech is a bitch. It takes real emotional maturity to tolerate the fact that other people will say stupid, hurtful, or foolish things.
It takes even more maturity to simply consider the source and Not take offense at things not actually meant offensively.
In my own family, there has been quite a history of mental illness.
I am extremely sensitive to the suffering that mental illness can cause to those who are ill and in the lives of those who care for them...
However, That doesn't mean that I can't laugh at a joke that uses some term impugning folks who are "crazy", "Manic/depressive" "co-dependant", "looney"- or refers to the nut hatch, the psycho ward, or the rubber room...
Folks who make such jokes come in two kinds... either they know nothing about mental illness... and I can forgive them their good fortune in having not been touched by it in their lives....
OR- they have been immersed in mental illness and come to see that those who survive it are the ones who can laugh about it.
The world does not suffer from too little laughter.
It suffers from too many people taking their own shit too seriously.
so saith the double asshat