If you don't want folks to think you're old, stop using words like "Folks" (hubby, clever)
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Do you believe this one Runs With Scissors: I'm a native New Yorker - When we lived in a small town in North Carolina I had a craving for a bagel, cream cheese and lox. I went to the seafood section at Piggly Wiggly and asked the guy behind the counter for some lox. He pointed to a different aisle and told me to check in hardware. God's honest truth. I knew we had to get out of there before my kids wound up like that.
Hmmm - had you (and your kids) been offered shad roe by this North Carolinian, would you have had a clue what he was talking about? Or would you figure he was offering you a paddle made by some guy named Shad?
As for "folks" sounding archaic to the OP, how would you refer to all those tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Joseph Jacobs in their respective countries of Germany, France, and England? How about the dances found among the common people in those same and many other places? What about the traditional songs and music sung and played around the world, the ones which like the tales and dances, got written down belatedly after being passed along from generation to generation the old-fashioned way first?
Would you also object to "folk" preceding the terms tale, dance, and song or music in these cases? If so, what would you put in its place? "Youguyslore"? Somehow, that doesn't have quite the same resonance...
I used to think that as well but then I began to hear the term "you guys" being used as an all-encompassing one sort of like the way Southerners say "y'all."
I got a tickle out of the very young people where I used to work calling me "dude." I thought that was only something men were called but apparently now that can be either male or female.
Yes. Back in high school (60's) girls would say to each other "you guys". As in "Hey you guys, wait for me!"
Hmmm - had you (and your kids) been offered shad roe by this North Carolinian, would you have had a clue what he was talking about? Or would you figure he was offering you a paddle made by some guy named Shad?
yea - doubt anyone in my south texas town would know what that was.
But then if you watch lots of TV (lots based in NYC) - you would pick up phrases like that. Oh well.
I'm likely not doing this explanation justice but essentially.....The various changes in the use of the terminology such as "mentally retarded" is meant to be more positive/inclusive than the negative term "retard" and has everything to do with empowerment and nothing to do with nomenclature as it relates to this topic.
Not everyone who has a developmental disability is mentally retarded. So if people cringe at the use of "mentally retarded" it has little to do with how old the speaker is.
Thank you for going to the trouble to provide the two links. I read the second link in its entirety and I don't see the connection with our discussion. It is a technical, medical explanation about mental retardation, its diagnosis, its degrees of severity, its possible causes, etc. It confirmed my stance that mental retardation is a legitimate term. However, it did make one of the points which you made, namely that developmental disability is a broader category than mental retardation. I was glad to learn that.
I scanned the first link, which is about the Americans with Disabilities Act. I didn't see anything about the terminology of mentally retarded versus developmentally disabled, but I might have been reading too fast.
You have failed to change my mind about something rather basic, however, and that is that discarding the term "mentally retarded" is more about trendiness than about anything else. I see no reason for people to "cringe" at its use.
As for "folks" sounding archaic to the OP, how would you refer to all those tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Joseph Jacobs in their respective countries of Germany, France, and England? How about the dances found among the common people in those same and many other places? What about the traditional songs and music sung and played around the world, the ones which like the tales and dances, got written down belatedly after being passed along from generation to generation the old-fashioned way first?
Would you also object to "folk" preceding the terms tale, dance, and song or music in these cases? If so, what would you put in its place? "Youguyslore"? Somehow, that doesn't have quite the same resonance...
Well ... since you asked ... I was only talking about "your folks" meaning "your parents," not all conceivable meanings of folk or folks. Reread the OP for clarification.
Thank you for going to the trouble to provide the two links. I read the second link in its entirety and I don't see the connection with our discussion. It is a technical, medical explanation about mental retardation, its diagnosis, its degrees of severity, its possible causes, etc. It confirmed my stance that mental retardation is a legitimate term. However, it did make one of the points which you made, namely that developmental disability is a broader category than mental retardation. I was glad to learn that.
I scanned the first link, which is about the Americans with Disabilities Act. I didn't see anything about the terminology of mentally retarded versus developmentally disabled, but I might have been reading too fast.
You have failed to change my mind about something rather basic, however, and that is that discarding the term "mentally retarded" is more about trendiness than about anything else. I see no reason for people to "cringe" at its use.
I, too, did not understand why the term was changed. But then I remembered children in the neighborhood being taunted with "Hey, Retard! or "Look at Tard!". I think it's best that the term was dropped.
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