Is Midget A Bad Word?

Ginger
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:17 pm: [report]

Midget has been considered an un-pc term for quite some time. I’m pretty sure there was a scene about it in the movie ‘In Bruges’. And I’ve heard people get touchy about it for years now. Especially since it’s normally dwarfs who get called midgets when the two are not the same thing.

GreenAura
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:24 pm: [report]

I am one of the people that does not know the difference between a dwarf and a midget.  Care to share?

bumbler
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:31 pm: [report]

This is fairly common with words that describe specific physical challenges.  Moron and idiot used to be terms to describe specific levels of developmental deficiencies.  People start using them as insults and the nuances of the word change making them offensive.  Plus Ginger is right that midget is often misused in the technical sense.  I believe midget refers to a person who is below a certain height but who’s measurements are considered proportional like Minnie Warren.  Dwarfism means a person with one of many conditions that result in diminished height and disproportionate arm and leg length.  There’s also the issue with the mythical use of the word dwarf.  Not many people want to be labeled the same thing as Gimli.

CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:31 pm: [report]

Short or vertically challenged.
Fat or ubiquitously wide.
Bald or possessing a shiny hiney head.

That guy in the pic is trying to hard, he’s a midget. Anyone who respectfully, and tactfully, asks to be referred to as something I would respectfully oblige them.

CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:32 pm: [report]

@bumbler: I woould kill to be Gimli, or Thorin, king under the mountain.

GreenAura
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:36 pm: [report]

So is “little person” just a lumped term that includes dwarfs and midgets?  Kind of like how the term latino includes mexicans, puerto ricans, ecuadorians, etc.??

bumbler
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:39 pm: [report]

You have to remember, Cheese, dwarf ladies sport some pretty impressive beards.  Gimli probably has a wife at home rocking some fierce whiskers.

writergirl
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:39 pm: [report]

I know we are *supposed* to call them “Little People” and so I do.  But I think that term is just as insulting.  “Little People” are a toy.  There’s entire villages and cars and buses and crap….who wants to be called a child’s play thing?

(and I’m being good…not making on MJ reference)

crimsonletter
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:50 pm: [report]

This topic seems vaguely offensive.  The correct term is, and has been for a while as far as I know, “little people” or “little person.” It’s maybe not a perfect term yet, but at least it lessens the “othering” by reminding that little people, yes, are people too, and deserve respect. Not annoyance that you have to change your vocabulary.  It’s important to help bring visibility to minorities and groups that have often made people uncomfortable because they defy conventional expectations, such as differently-abled people, transgendered people, and little people.  The very fact that you lumped comparisons like “black” or “African American” and “He-she” or “Transgender” is problematic.  “He-she” is a very offensive term that caries a different sort of weight and prejudice these days.

GreenAura
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 03:58 pm: [report]

How about if we just do away with any kind of labels?  “John” might be a little person, but he prefers to be known as “John”.  That can’t possibly offend anyone.

crimsonletter
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 04:06 pm: [report]

Works for me!

robertsmithshairspray
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 04:13 pm: [report]

Here, soon enough, they’ll get sick of being called “little people”, and move onto another word that, in turn, keeps them put into these stupid discriminations. Everyone’s so easily offended these days, because everyone’s always talking about everyone else. If we just treated everyone equally, this kind of crap would be halved.

Besides, I like saying midgets, it reminds me of midget gems.

Raugiel
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 04:17 pm: [report]

I’ve often been told that “little person” or “little people” is the correct term, but I can’t help but think of the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz when I say that. If at all possible, I’d prefer to just use the persons real name.

Leese
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 04:48 pm: [report]

@GreenAura:I totally agree with you! I’m so sick of the need to label every single person.

CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 05:11 pm: [report]

@GreenAura: I’m deeply offended that men who visit prostitutes are called Johns. My name isn’t John, but I’m still offended!

eden
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 05:21 pm: [report]

I would NEVER call a transgendered person a he-she.

Nutmeg
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 05:32 pm: [report]

One google of research would have clarified things Zandile.

bbpickles
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 05:46 pm: [report]

@Writergirl-I had a ton of little people when I was growing up.  We also had weeble wables that we also called little people…
When I first was scolded for saying midget and not little people I thought to myself who would want to be compared to little toys that we knock over because they don’t ever fall!

I respect it though, and don’t want to offend anyone!

Alison Wonderland
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 06:34 pm: [report]

I prefer the term ‘handicapped’, because disabled suggests that a person can’t do something at all which isn’t necessarily true. (Physically challenged just reminds me of Double Dare.)

Meggie
wrote on July 8 2009 @ 08:19 pm: [report]

I just don’t get all this PC stuff…it all seems so ridiculous…so long as someone isn’t using a term in an intended derogatory form I don’t see why people are getting upset.

justme
wrote on July 9 2009 @ 07:35 am: [report]

Double Dare!

Lynn
wrote on July 9 2009 @ 08:48 am: [report]

I HATE using the term “little people.” I agree with everyone - it just sounds like a toy! If I were a dwarf or a midget I would *never* want to be called a “little person”

vanya
wrote on July 9 2009 @ 08:57 am: [report]

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050501/COMMENTARY/50429001

Actor Danny Woodburn, himself a little person, has an interesting email exchange with film critic Roger Ebert overe the use of the word “midget”.

Disability advocates who prmotoe person-first language will say that the term little person at least includes the word “person”.

vanya
wrote on July 9 2009 @ 08:59 am: [report]

That should be “promote”, sorry for the typo.