NEVER use that word again!

When Dw first moved here she often used the word "ret*rd" and I was aghast at that - she doesn't use it now after I'd said it's just not acceptable over here. So then her daughter visits and starts saying it!

Oh also - we were watching the movie The Dambusters and the point when he calls his dog over and DW was "oh my god! did he really say that?" I said "Yes, that was actually the dog's name"

Just google The Dambusters and the dogs name! Let's just say it's a very un-PC term for a black person.

Sorry if my post came off harshly--didn't mean to.  As a social worker and a family member of a disabled person, I've just seen it used too often in the deeply derogatory sense toward people with disabilities, and if you think about it when it's used for someone with an injury, it's really the same kind of context--joking that they are disfigured/crippled/whatever.  I have similar feelings for when people joke about something or someone being "stupid."

Oh, and Chary  

Wait, what is this idiot thing? Isn't "An Idiot Abroad" a British program?

I cannot count the number of times I use the word 'idiot' each day.

I've never heard that idiot is unacceptable, and hear it regularly here, particularly in the form 'eejit'.

My husband uses idiot a lot, but he's usually referring to himself. 

Not sure about 'idiot'... I don't know anyone who would shy away from using that word.  

However, when i first landed up on these shores in the 80's, i had a habit of saying that certain people/things were r******d.  I knew it wasn't nice, but it was in common use where i grew up, so i didn't really worry about it much... till i came here and discovered how offensive it really was.  I felt so ashamed for using it!  

((wow... it was so bad that the censoring software on UKY has kicked in!!!))

When Dw first moved here she often used the word "idiot" and I was aghast at that - she doesn't use it now after I'd said it's just not acceptable over here. So then her daughter visits and starts saying it!

Seems like the filter changes the word to idiot! The word was ret@rd"

Not sure about 'idiot'... I don't know anyone who would shy away from using that word.  

However, when i first landed up on these shores in the 80's, i had a habit of saying that certain people/things were r******d.  I knew it wasn't nice, but it was in common use where i grew up, so i didn't really worry about it much... till i came here and discovered how offensive it really was.  I felt so ashamed for using it!  

((wow... it was so bad that the censoring software on UKY has kicked in!!!))

I really had a bad habit of using that word too- Getting better, but it occasionally slips out.

I grew up in an area of California with a large population of Hmongs (pronounced Mong) and quickly learned that "mong" is a derogatory slang for those with mental handicaps here.   Any time I say that word he pretends I'm being horrible on purpose- I'm married to lovely man

Seems like the filter changes the word to idiot! The word was ret@rd"

Haha I just got off the phone with DH and asked him what is the deal with saying the word idiot in the UK, he was as perplexed as I was..... it all makes sense now!

Seems like the filter changes the word to idiot! The word was ret@rd"

Hah! Yes, I thought you were being a bit oversensitive!

LOL! That makes more sense now!

Seems like the filter changes the word to idiot! The word was ret@rd"

  

I'm with you now.

I grew up in an area of California with a large population of Hmongs (pronounced Mong)

I'm from California too, but I had to Google this!

Fortunately, I wasn't caught out on this because another American friend told me about it shortly after I moved here (as she had been caught out, embarrassingly) - it's the word - spaz.

Growing up, I wasn't ever aware of the word's origins and as children we would say things like 'Oh I'm (or you're) such a spaz!' to mean hyper or overly energetic, silly/awkward & cutting up, that sort of thing.

In fact, 'spaz' is a shortened/altered form of spastic, referring to people with spastic paralysis - the congenital form of which is known as cerebral palsy. <--- I cribbed this from here.

I think that the way I used the word as a child is still prevalent in the US (not saying it's right), but the British do (and rightly so I would say) consider it horribly offensive.

This was really brought home to me - the word's hurtfulness, when speaking about it with one of my best friends here - from Canada, who has cerebral palsy. And her point being it is a hurtful term and it would have been used to refer to her. I felt badly for ever having used it.