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The Broadway musical "Tommy" is making the rounds again.
I wonder if the hit song "Pinball Wizard" has changed the lyrics so as not to offend anyone.
Ever since I was a young boy,
I've played the silver ball.
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all.
But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall... That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball !
When a vacationing couple, who use sign language, finally received their lost luggage it had a note on it saying "Please text. Deaf and dumb". The couple is outraged calling the note outrageous and cruel and they want an apology. "Deaf and dumb. How much more insulting can you get?" says James' mom.
The airline has replied "“We apologize to [the couple]. It was clearly a very poor choice of words. We’re confident there was no ill will, but we’ll be looking into this further and will be following up with our team members at IAH and the contractor that provides our baggage delivery services.” - but that's not good enough for this couple. "That person needs to be fired," Kay Moehle (mom) said. "The dumb one is the one who write the note."
I'm on the airline's side. What's PC these days for "deaf and dumb"?
For God's Sake, get over your silly, whiney sensitivities.
If you can't hear or speak, you're deaf and dumb.
Deal with it!
I'm sure they'll end up suing.
How is not being able to hear or speak make you dumb. That is such backwards thinking. For all you know their intelligence far exceeds yours with all your hearing and speech lol And no they don't have to deal with that.
Obviously, some folks either can't spell "dictionary" or simply don't know how to use one. Guess there's no fixing dumb.
World English Dictionary dumb (dʌm) — adj 1. lacking the power to speak, either because of defects in the vocal organs or because of hereditary deafness
2. lacking the power of human speech: dumb animals
3. temporarily lacking or bereft of the power to speak: struck dumb
4. refraining from speech; uncommunicative
5. producing no sound; silent: a dumb piano
6. made, done, or performed without speech
7. informal a. slow to understand; dim-witted b. See also dumb down foolish; stupid
8. (of a projectile or bomb) not guided to its target
Consider yourselves less dumb now. Most words do have more than one meaning, doncha know!
Deaf and dumb was how it used to be said. Dumb meaning unable to speak, NOT meaning "stupid". People who don't know that are just young and ignorant to things, yet they would tar and feather (can I say that?) someone because of that ignorance.
It's a scary world where people who don't know any better get to call the shots and ruin lives because they think THEY are the enlightened ones! LOL!
You don't see why people would be offended by calling them dumb?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Draper
unable to speak = dumb?
What kind of stupid crap is that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by natalie469
How is not being able to hear or speak make you dumb. That is such backwards thinking. For all you know their intelligence far exceeds yours with all your hearing and speech lol And no they don't have to deal with that.
Have you not read all of the posts in this thread??
NO ONE is equating an inability to speak with low intelligence.
Surely you know that the English language is derived from many older languages. In the case of the English word "dumb," it came from Old Norse dumbr and Gothic dumbs which meant only 'mute'. There was nothing in that word etymologically related to intelligence. However, the English language also adopted the word dumb from the Dutch word dom 'stupid' and German dumm 'stupid'. So, like many English words, the word "dumb" has more than one definition. Sometimes English words have nearly opposite definitions, such as "hysterical," which can mean out of control due to fear, or extremely funny. Or the word "strike," which usually means to hit, but in baseball it means to miss.
Granted, in this day and age, the old definition of mute is rarely used, but your outrage at its use indicated an etymology lesson was in order.
Last edited by Ibginnie; 03-28-2014 at 07:24 AM..
Reason: deleted quoted post
I doubt it was meant as a slam, pretty old term though. Sensitivity training sounds good to me, I wouldn't fire the person.
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