"Vegetarianism for me is about saying ‘yes’ to things - even meat." - Coupling

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But people would get quite angry if you said that here. Ok, maybe it's not as bad as 'retard' but it's still something you wouldn't say in public unless you were deliberately trying to cause offence.

Handicapped, retard, spastic, window-licker, cripple etc. are all bad vocabulary.

First hit on google

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And Robbie - here in the US, this is what my general observation is...
While it is indeed frowned upon to call a person handicapped, for some reason we still frequently call the parking spaces reserved for them 'handicapped parking' and I still hear the term 'handicap accessible'.

And thanks for the spelling correction on my name :) lol

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I just wonder if Luke actually means Fashionistas/Krave, rather than the convention?

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As for accessibility, Da Burglar got around seemingly fine last year, though I don't know if having all those porn starlets on his lap impeded his progress through the Venetian or not.

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i got a bud thts in a wheelchair and
would like to go but dont know if
he can baced on that .

Edited by - lukemason on 11/14/2006 2:03:32 PM

Edited by - lukemason on 11/14/2006 2:04:57 PM

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So when a law calls for a designated handicapped parking space, the obvious thing to do would be to put up a sign that says handicapped parking.

As for Krave/Fashionistas, Luke, I'm pretty sure the Aladdin mall was built after 1990 and follows the ADA physical accessibility standards (no guarantee though). I remember ramps and such but don't remember if there were any designated wheelchair seating areas. I doubt there are captioning or audio descriptions of the show itself.

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At the beginning of the last century, the acceptable term for people whose skin is brown or black transitioned from "negro" to "colored". The NAACP hasn't change their name despite the fact that anyone using "colored" outside of giving the full name of that organization is considered to be racist. Another example is the United Negro College Fund. Why hasn't that name changed?

Then, it went to black. Black power. The Black Caucus (Still used in Congress). Next it was African American (or Afro-American), and I've even heard some move on to just saying African, even for Americans who've never set foot in Africa.

What's my point? Language is used as a political tool. Individual words do not necessarily reveal hidden racism. Twenty years from now, we may have gone thru several more changes. It may even be scandalous for someone to say African American.

Handicapped, midget, and retarded are no different. Retarded has taken on a perjorative meaning over the years, but it is, or was, an accurate term. Someone whose mental or social development has been retarded due to some disease or birth defect.

Another favorite of mine is how it has become so taboo to say "Indians" instead of Native American. I consider myself to be a native American. I was born here after all. But that term has come to mean the tribes of peoples who were her before the white Europeans arrived. However, listen to someone who is in that racial group talk, and unless they are part of some advocacy group, they almost always refer to themselves as Indians, or their tribe name. I never hear them call themselves Native Americans. Besides, isn't it arrogant for us to think that that term would be more acceptable to them? They didn't call the land that they occupied "America", so why would they want to be called that?

Being language police seems to give some people the feeling that they are better than others. That they are the enlightened ones who wouldn't dare use such primitive language. Limousine liberals are often just as prone to having prejudicial thoughts as the mean, hateful conservatives, but they do put on a good front.

Why don't we save the outrage for truly outrageous things where people actually get harmed? Like posting this nonsense on a porn message board. :-)

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Thank you. I agree with everything you say.

'Coloured' is a good example, it's an archaic term. So when I see 'handicapped', my first contemplation is that it's out of date rather than actual prejudice. So, I'd say that I point out what I see as desert island syndrome, rather than being the champion of political correctness.

Maybe I am the language police. I've pulled up several people for inappropriate use of 'whore' and 'slut', a fruitless task on this forum!

You'll love this: Ban on the word 'Librarian'

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To have such groups with all the laws passed these days is pretty racist in itself. I agree with the hood-wearing "retards" in that you don't see "The United Whitey College Fund" do you? Life is what you make of it...

For those very groups, I think it's pretty ballzy to claim in the 21st century that they are being slighted. There should just be a "United COLLEGE Fund", I don't understand where & why the "Negro" has to be singled out.

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Edited by - robbie on 3/26/2007 12:28:47 PM

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Thanks for showing me that. I know that reporter, so I just sent him a quick email asking him to change it so that Stagliano hits in google searches.

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Jacco

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