When did midget become an offensive term and

[Shell Beau]

why was it replaced with the term little person? What makes midget offensive? Do any of you still use the term? I try to say little person, but is that really the correct term?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I have no idea.

I just avoid any term altogether in the rare occasion that a little person is around.

[Shell Beau]

2. Yeah, I am not around them a whole lot. But

I am never sure what is the correct thing to say.

[Lars39]

5. Why would you say anything different than what you would say

to someone of a more ordinary height?:shrug:

[Shell Beau]

8. I don't know. That is a good question, but many

people do and it seems they like to be called (so I've heard) a little person.

[Lars39]

11. Best policy is to never comment on a person's appearance.

[Shell Beau]

22. Absolutely.

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Uh, for a long while now

Don't ever call them midgets...it's highly offensive and rude. I don't remember why, but it is. Little people is best, and technically they are dwarfs.

[madinmaryland]

4. vertically challenged?

I avoid referring in anyway to people's sizes.

[Shell Beau]

12. That is best. But

say when referring to them in the movie "The Wizard of Oz" or "Willy Wonka" what would you say?

[madinmaryland]

27. The short person, probably.

Would that be deemed offensive? Another question, is how should an overweight person be referred to (not meaning to start any flame wars here).

[Shell Beau]

30. I see, and I understand. But we "as a society"

typically do that and we certainly shouldn't. I said before that this question came up after I saw the word midget in a couple of threads.

[madinmaryland]

34. I see, but it just got me thinking.

I hate it when i start thinking!


On edit: I think I will go with what #11 said.

[Shell Beau]

37. I hate thinking too! It makes my head hurt. LOL

[Shell Beau]

9. But I thought dwarfism was a different type of

condtion than a little person.

[bicentennial_baby]

24. Uh, no

Read: http://www.lpaonline.org/

[Shell Beau]

26. You are right. I had heard that, but I guess whoever

told me that had no idea.

[commander bunnypants]

29. many many types of darvism

Akonoplasia

is just one type the most common

And LP's are always ready to talk about it. Its called edumacation.

I have seen pics of there conventions. The hotels are usually just a smoking ruin the next day. This year it is a cruise in the Gulf. I hope to get to one one day. My wife is of normal height but an associate member of LPA. We can get a discount

CB

[Shell Beau]

31. Interesting!

[sundog]

6. .

:popcorn:

[Shell Beau]

10. I hope not. I was just curious. There were a couple of

threads about "midgets" which led me to the above questions.

[LynneSin]

7. midget was a term used in freak shows that employed little folks

From the Little People website:

http://www.lpaonline.org/resources_faq.html

Q: What is a midget?

A: In some circles, a midget is the term used for a proportionate dwarf. However, the term has fallen into disfavor and is considered offensive by most people of short stature. The term dates back to 1865, the height of the "freak show" era, and was generally applied only to short-statured persons who were displayed for public amusement, which is why it is considered so unacceptable today.

[Shell Beau]

16. I see, definitely makes sense!

[commander bunnypants]

13. LPA.com

Sister and brother law and L'P's

Akons

CB

[commander bunnypants]

14. LPA.com

Sister and brother law and L'P's

Akons

CB

[Shell Beau]

19. Thanks!

[sniffa]

15. how about midget breeders?

are they offensive?

and how about bridget? she's too hot to be offensive.



i just Learned she retired from porn. :cry:

[Shell Beau]

18. Bridget the midget?

[sniffa]

23. that's her name

:9

[LoZoccolo]

17. I'm not sure exactly, but the thinking is usually that...

...it's more acceptable to describe someone with an adjective than with a noun. "Little person" sort of signifies that their littleness is only one facet of them, while some people feel that "midget" is a way of having it describe all of them.

[Shell Beau]

20. Midget does sound kind of crass.

[Taverner]

21. I had a friend who called himself "Bonsai"

...but I don't think you could get away with using that term loosely...LOL

[WeRQ4U]

25. I'll blow your mind here a bit.... check out my High School on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickinson_High_School

[Shell Beau]

28. OMG! I can't believe that and

that is your high school? I bet there is all kind of controversy over that.

[WeRQ4U]

32. Yeah there was.

The controversy arises every now and then. When I was a senior they wanted to change the mascot to something else, but the aging alumni fought VERY hard to keep it. They even held some goofy biased election in the town to see whether we should change it or not. They voted not to. The people of North Dakota fear change.

The story was on Jay Leno and a couple other shows. Personally, I can't figure out for the life of me why someone woudl CHOOSE to be called a "Midget". Mascots are supposed to be inspirational and should instill fear in your opponent. Call me crazy, but "Midgets" doesn't do that.

[Shell Beau]

35. Did y'all have a mascot dress up and stuff? If so,

what type of costume was it. My college had two mascots. We were called the Statesmen, but we were also called the Fighting Okra. And we had a long green station wagon called the Okra Mobile. There was a guy in a costume as well and it was an Okra.

[WeRQ4U]

40. Yeah, they had a mascot

He looked a lot like the picture of the mascot on the webpage. They had a short kid dress up in a suit and put on this huge, ugly head. It was really bad. Small town, small budget.

[Shell Beau]

That still blows my mind and yeah, not very scary. Oh well!

[caty]

33. I think that little people have to

struggle to get by in their lives. If they want to be called "little people", then that's what we should call them. We can at least give them some small comfort in their lives by calling them what they want to be called.

[commander bunnypants]

36. small comfort?

My bro-in law is front man for a heavy metal band-now defunct. sis in law is a computer programmer. Ther house is worth 500k.

Fancy schmancy

CB

[Shell Beau]

38. I will just call them people. B/c really after thinking

about it, we really shouldn't separate them with terms.

[caty]

43. That's a great idea.

[pdx_prog]

39. How about midgets with mullets?

[redqueen]

41. I only used that term 'cause it was on the Smoking Gun webpage.

[Shell Beau]

42. No no, I wasn't trying to say that you were being rude

or anything. I mean the guys T-shirt said I love midget porn. But I also saw the word in another thread and it just got me thinking. I know you wouldn't say anything offensive on purpose. And I didn't see anything wrong with your post. It certainly fit the pic! :)