Spastic

Derived via Latin from the Greek spastikos ('drawing in', 'tugging' or 'shaking uncontrolably'), the word spastic refers to an alteration in muscle tone affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is seen in spastic diplegia and many other forms of cerebral palsy and also in terms such as 'spastic colon'. Derived via Latin from the Greek spastikos ('drawing in', 'tugging' or 'shaking uncontrolably'), the word spastic refers to an alteration in muscle tone affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is seen in spastic diplegia and many other forms of cerebral palsy and also in terms such as 'spastic colon'. Colloquially, spastic can be pejorative; though severity of this differs between the United States and the United Kingdom. Disabled people in the United Kingdom consider 'spastic' to be one of the most offensive terms related to disability. The medical term 'spastic' came into use to describe cerebral palsy. The Scottish Council for the Care of Spastics was founded in 1946, and the Spastics Society, an English charity for people with cerebral palsy, was founded in 1951. However, the word began to be used as an insult and became a term of abuse used to imply stupidity or physical ineptness: one who is uncoordinated or incompetent, or a fool. It was often colloquially abbreviated to shorter forms such as 'spaz'. Although the word has a much longer history, its derogatory use grew considerably in the 1980s and this is sometimes attributed to the BBC children's TV show Blue Peter; during the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981), several episodes of Blue Peter featured a man named Joey Deacon with cerebral palsy (described as a 'spastic'). Phrases such as 'joey', 'deacon', and 'spaz' became widely used insults amongst children at that time. In 1994, the same year that Conservative MP Terry Dicks referred to himself in a House of Commons debate as 'a spastic with cerebral palsy', the Spastics Society changed its name to Scope. The word 'spastic' has been largely erased from popular English usage and is deemed unacceptable to use outside of specific medical contexts, thus reducing stigmatisation of the condition. However, UK schoolchildren allegedly developed a derogatory adaptation of the Spastic Society's new name, 'scoper'.The current understanding of the word is well-illustrated by a BBC survey in 2003, which found that 'spastic' was the second most offensive term in the UK relating to anyone with a disability (retard was deemed most offensive in the US and other countries). In 2007, Lynne Murphy, a linguist at the University of Sussex, described the term as being 'one of the most taboo insults to a British ear'. The video game Mario Party 8 features a scene of the board Shy Guy Perplex Express where the character Kamek will cast a spell to switch train cars, being 'Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!' Because of this, Mario Party 8 was recalled in the U.K. but was later rereleased replacing, 'spastic' with 'erratic.' In American slang, the term 'spaz' has evolved from a derogatory description of people with disabilities, and is generally understood as a casual word for clumsiness, otherness, sometimes associated with overexcitability, excessive startle response ('jumpiness'), excessive energy, involuntary or random movement, or hyperactivity. Some of these associations use the symptoms of cerebral palsy and other related disabilities as insults. Its usage has been documented as far back as the mid-1950s. In 1965, film critic Pauline Kael, hypothesised that, 'The term that American teenagers now use as the opposite of 'tough' is 'spaz' .