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Is this a cultural thing too?
Jan. 9th, 2013 12:35 pmI'd never heard of 'potato' being used as an offensive word until very recently (see here if you haven't either), so I've no idea how widespread it is either online or anywhere else. Is this a common insult in the US or elsewhere?
The reason I ask is because the same fandom (Teen Wolf, shock) that's quick to jump on its use is the same one where every other fic (this is not an exaggeration) uses 'spaz' or 'spastic' to describe one of the characters. When I first saw it I did some hunting around and saw lots of people claiming 'spaz' is not an offensive word in the US like it is in the UK (seriously, we've been trying to wipe it out for decades), so I try to grit my teeth, but it has to be a really good story to make me continue reading past one of these words, and if I spot a second use I'm out of there. It may be a good thing for my continued enjoyment that I tend to just skim chunks of less than fantastic dialogue, where some of these words may be lurking.
( I'm sure Wikipedia or wherever can explain the history of these words better than I can, so I'll stick with a personal story )
In other news, the puppy has come into season for the first time today, so no puppy school for a few weeks. Awww, she's getting all big now *sniff* (8 months old!) I need to note this down as I always lose my diary / scrap of paper where I write down the dates and it's important info to keep.
The reason I ask is because the same fandom (Teen Wolf, shock) that's quick to jump on its use is the same one where every other fic (this is not an exaggeration) uses 'spaz' or 'spastic' to describe one of the characters. When I first saw it I did some hunting around and saw lots of people claiming 'spaz' is not an offensive word in the US like it is in the UK (seriously, we've been trying to wipe it out for decades), so I try to grit my teeth, but it has to be a really good story to make me continue reading past one of these words, and if I spot a second use I'm out of there. It may be a good thing for my continued enjoyment that I tend to just skim chunks of less than fantastic dialogue, where some of these words may be lurking.
( I'm sure Wikipedia or wherever can explain the history of these words better than I can, so I'll stick with a personal story )
In other news, the puppy has come into season for the first time today, so no puppy school for a few weeks. Awww, she's getting all big now *sniff* (8 months old!) I need to note this down as I always lose my diary / scrap of paper where I write down the dates and it's important info to keep.
