thoughtfulAnyway, something has been on my mind for a while, and I think I'd like to talk about it here. Mostly it's that sometimes I feel like I'm getting mixed signals about what words are okay to use and what words aren't okay to use. (Which reminds me, last week we discovered that "cram school" is a pejorative in the United States, so we apologize to anyone who was offended by our My Little Monster translations. We did have a heck of a time trying to come up with an alternative, though, my goodness.)
The point is this. Many years ago, I was informed that the word "crazy" is offensive and we should stop using it. I'm fond of hyperbole, so I was a little bummed out by that, but I also like the idea of trying to come up with new words to use, so I was okay with it.
Later, we read an article about how we shouldn't use the names of actual mental illnesses when the person being described doesn't actually have them, like saying things like, "I'm OCD like that," for example. The reasoning behind this is that by using the words when they don't officially apply, we're undermining the seriousness of the conditions. I can get behind that a little bit more, because there actually is a reason given.
But then, a while after that, I was thinking about the whole thing, I thought that if using a term when it doesn't really apply lessens its meaning, then wouldn't it be better to use the word "crazy" more? If I talk about the crazy traffic, and people understand that I just mean there were an awful lot of cars on the road, and that it's not a reflection of the mental state of any of the drivers, and the same thing happens in other sentences with that word, then "crazy" would lose the "mentally ill" connotation, right? And if I called something "crazy awesome," then I would be linking the word "crazy" to positive things, and therefore reduce the stigma, right? Or...not right? I really don't know.
Maybe all I'm saying is that a few weeks ago, we came across some dialogue where it would have been really nice if we could have used "crazy" as an adverb, and I wasn't quite as happy with the alternative.
Today I'm thankful for the noisiness being done, plans to have visitors later, managing to finish that chapter of UQ Holder, that really funny Studio C sketch about Jeremy, and our visitors being really sweet and offering to bring treats.
