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Stealing slurs for random insults

davefredman
July 19, 2011

 

 

Slurs and words coded by first letters permeate the lexicon of language otherwise known as public discourse, trash talking, selling wolf tickets, spewing garbage or just making noise for its own sake.  I have no idea what anyone is talking about anymore. Some years ago a high school athlete, an actual girl, was talking to me about her coach and his approach to practice and said “you know Fredman he is such a girl.”  Now girls passing in the hall didn’t stop, turn and say, “watch it, I’m a girl nor did any males stop and say “hey I’m a guy and such a girl too, so what of it?”

Walk behind a crowd of people and yell “hey bozo!” and most of them will turn around and I’m sure several of them are actual bozos so what is that, an anti bozo slur?

During the last two weeks I’ve read stories of males in professional sports referring to officials, writers or fans using what is called an anti gay slur. Now if I were gay and one straight man called another –now here I can’t even write it so what the heck am I talking about- a gay slur- am I outraged and why? I don’t see what it has to do with me in anyway. I’m not taking ownership of some hideous put down term and thereby incriminating myself.

A congressman recently referred to President Obama using the “D” word. I searched all over trying to find out what he actually called him as lots of compound words begin with D and end with head like dunderhead a close cousin of the muttonhead and not far removed from the knucklehead a second cousin to the bonehead.

There was so much outrage after the movie Tropic Thunder for use of the word retard I just wanted the protectors of all with disabilities to shut up. I hear kids call each other that but I don’t step in and take personal exception because I have a grandson who is challenged in many ways but he doesn’t know he has no chance to grow up to be an idiot like these kids so why make an issue of it?

Like grand mom Rose said, “Don’t take insults someone says personally unless you look around and you are the only other person in the room.”

 

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