sorry

Marta Russell ap888 at lafn.org
Mon Sep 2 10:49:44 PDT 2002



>
>I don't buy that "lame" is a slur in the same way that "retard" or "gimp"
>would be, since the latter have a history of use as pejoratives, while
>"lame" was traditionally a colloquial alternative to "disabled" and usually
>applied not to humans but to hurt animals. When I hear the word "lame", I
>think mostly of its use applied to hurt horses. So a lame magazine in
>modern slang is a hurt magazine.

A lame magazine is a worthless magazine. I think lame was used by Dickens in A Christmas Carol to describe Tiny Tim. So in the disability community it is equated with not only humans but the entire pity parade attitudes that ensued to raise charity money for the lame, the crippled, those who industry refused to hire. My work is not based much on language but there are other scholars who would disagree with your point here.

Marta

-- Marta Russell Los Angeles, CA http://www.disweb.org



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list