Chat

7498 readers

2 users here now

Relaxed section for discussion and debate that doesn't fit anywhere else. Whether it's advice, how your week is going, a link that's at the back of your mind, or something like that, it can likely go here.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

AskBeehaw

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

remington

alyaza

What's an equivalent replacement for the word "lame"? (self.chat)

submitted 1 year ago by FlickOfTheBean to c/chat

79 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I don't know if I'm just becoming overly sensitive to my own language or if this is an actual issue, so feel free to let me know if it seems that I just need to grow thicker skin, but still.

I keep getting this uneasy feeling whenever I use the word "lame" and I think it's because I'm starting to realize it's technically ableist. However, there's no single non-profane word that I know of that fits the niche that I use it in.

For example, I wrote out something earlier about a behavior I do that I don't like that I do because I think it's kind of shitty behavior, but it's overall harmless. I use lame to describe it casually. I could also call it kind of shitty, as I did before, but not to audiences that I don't want to use profanity around.

Anyone know of a word I can replace "lame" with?

I'd say maybe weak, but that's got its own baggage that I'm not sure I'm ok with switching to. Annoying is too strong of a word for what I'm going for. Maybe lame is a short word for "this makes me feel slightly sad"?

Idk, so I open it up to the public: Is this even an issue or am I being too sensitive? Could this be solved in a single replacement word or do I need a whole ass phrase to express this?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] jarfil 5 points 1 year ago

Is that a bad thing, though?

Language evolves, words start by describing something, to become euphemisms for something else, to become swears, to end up as a description of the swear, and ultimately get either reused as a description of something else, or fall out of use.

Sounds to me like "lame" or "dumb" are quite far gone on that progression, to the point of becoming detached from the original meaning for most people. It's great to avoid using them with the slur meaning, or in presence of those who understand it as a slur... but spreading awareness of, or teaching, the negative meaning to people who might have never encountered it, sounds like pushing the progression backwards, entrenching the word as a slur even among those who don't use it as one.