Is the word ******** offensive?

[NovaKart]

Is it offensive to say something or someone is ********? I mean, obviously it's offensive to refer to someone who literally is ******** as such but in other situations is it OK? Is it wrong to say that's ********, as a synonym for stupid?

Is it annoying that I included a youtube clip of the view?

Moderator Action: Video containing autocensored words removed.
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[ParadigmShifter]

Only proper mongs say things are ********.

 

[Winner]

I've received infractions for using it on this forum, which may indicate so

 

[Arwon]

Yes, of course. You're invoking prejudice against marginalised people to use as an insult. If it wasn't offensive people probably wouldn't use it.

But then again, the word "moron" means virtually the same thing. Words are tricky like that.

Basically: the use of powerful, loaded taboo words isn't inherently hate speech.

 

[de Maistre]

I suppose it's offensive if people are offended by it. It's a crude word, and for that reason I think it's inappropriate in a formal context, but to me it's not very different from saying that something is "stupid", which I doubt many people would take offense to.

 

[Jehoshua]

I would suppose it would depend on the individual, and the preponderance of like minded individuals in a specific part of the world.

For example at least in my part of Australia the term causes no offence amongst most people, with the exception generally being carers of, or people who have close contact with intellectually impaired individuals, and the occasional advocate of political correctness. But presumably in somewhere else the political correctness auditors have a majority and the term has become publicly unnacceptable.

 

[Tee Kay]

I don't think it's offensive; maybe because in my head I don't associate the word with "people who are mentally ill" but with "otherwise functional people who happens to do things which are stupefyingly stupid".

 

[Arwon]

"the political correctness auditors"

Not a thing.

 

[Tahuti]

I think that just depends on with what you are associating the word ******** with. Many people I've seen using it do not particulary associate it with low mental ability.

 

[Artifis]

I just want to say that when the moral police start dictating what words we can and can't say, down to the smallest adjective, Big Brother is only a few steps away.

 

[Jehoshua]

Not a thing.

You must get rather irritated at the term moral police, afterall they are not a thing either, (unless you happen to live in Saudi Arabia ). May I suggest you lose the hyperliteralism...

I simply meant those individuals who feel the need to argue for political correctness in society, whether it be changing the nursery rhyme ba ba black sheep to some other colour sheep to avoid offending black people or whether it is excising the word ******** from public parlance.

 

[NovaKart]

I would suppose it would depend on the individual, and the preponderance of like minded individuals in a specific part of the world.

For example at least in my part of Australia the term causes no offence amongst most people, with the exception generally being carers of, or people who have close contact with intellectually impaired individuals, and the occasional advocate of political correctness. But presumably in somewhere else the political correctness auditors have a majority and the term has become publicly unnacceptable.

I would say the situation is the same in America. The majority of people don't think it's offensive, maybe a little offensive but not very bad. Now there are some people who want to change this and are saying it's offensive.

I wouldn't say this is a big brother pc police type of thing since no one is suggesting the word become illegal or anything like that.

 

[Arwon]

You must get rather irritated at the term moral police, afterall they are not a thing either, (unless you happen to live in Saudi Arabia ). May I suggest you lose the hyperliteralism...

I simply meant those individuals who feel the need to argue for political correctness in society, whether it be changing the nursery rhyme ba ba black sheep to some other colour sheep to avoid offending black people or whether it is excising the word ******** from public parlance.

Yeah, sorry, 1993 called, they want their urban legends and weird persecution complex back.

 

[Jehoshua]

Yeah, sorry, 1993 called, they want their urban legends and weird persecution complex back.

must have something to do with living in Canberra.

 

[Arwon]

Well no. The thing is the term "political correctness" literally doesn't mean anything and the idea of there being a "political correctness police" is a nonsense. It exists almost entirely in bad stand-up and lazy comedy. The term is almost invariably used these days by jerks defending their being jerks by acting like they're some sort of lone ranger freedom fighter against imaginary bogeymen.

 

[Jehoshua]

Well I would disagree, the term describes the phenomenon of taking absurd measures to avoid "offense", out of oversensitivity to some group. Thus we have the Ba Ba rainbow sheep in certain british nurseries to avoid offending black people . Sure certain individuals do probably use the guise of attacking political correctness as cover for innapropriate behaviour, such as say burning a Quran, but the fact remains that certain actions taken by, and advocated by some individuals and organisations are frankly ridiculous.

Now of course you could of said that quotation of yours before making short 3 word hyperliteral remarks in my (non-literal) direction

 

[Camikaze]

I sometimes use the word, but I wouldn't use it directed towards a person, and wouldn't use it in a simile. I guess it's fair enough to call it offensive; it's the same thing with 'that is gay'. But old habits die hard, and although the onus really should be on those of us who use it to stop doing so, I don't think people should get too worked up about it when there is no malicious intent.

 

[cardgame]

Unlike the word gay, however, ******** has other meanings that apply equally well. I believe I've made posts about this matter before with much better explanations of this, but I can't find them at the moment.

An example would be fire retardant. The other meaning(s) of this word come into play there, much like they would if I, for example, criticized the local bureaucracy for being ********, as in slowing progress.

 

[Camikaze]

When you say, 'that is ********', you're generally using it as an adjective, though, not a passive verb. Though '********' as an adjective can have other potentially relevant meanings, the primary one would definitely be referring to an individual with an intellectual disability. If you're meaning something else, then it would be natural to find an alternative word.

 

[ArneHD]

Used clinically, no. Used colloquially, yes.

I consider it a fairly minor insult, however.