sorry

[Marta Russell]

>
>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

And one more thing.  It was common practice to shoot lame horses as 
they were of no use to human beings anymore.
marta

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