I would think that "Delicious Babies and Istanbul got Spazzed" is less-potentially-offensive than "You Drive Like a Spaz", but I don't mind either.

My gut says just the opposite --- You Drive reads to me very specifically as the Snyder quote. The other is divorced from that context, and so much more uncomfortable for me.

OTOH, I'm not in the thread and doubt I will be, so I'm'a butt out from the rest of the naming discussion.

Mother teaches disabled children and I had NO IDEA spaz was as offensive as it seems to be.

Learn something new everyday.

I think it's a given that spaz derives from spastic, but they're certainly not interchangeable in American usage. (The lines would never have been "drive like a spastic" or "such a spastic before".) Is it the case that both words are offensive in British English usage?

The other is divorced from that context, and so much more uncomfortable for me.

In my head, since "spazzed" isn't a real verb, and has never (to my knowledge) been used to mean anything related to "spastic", it shouldn't be offensive. It's a word we made up whose derivatrion comes from the word "spaz", but not from the meaning of "spaz", if that makes any sense.

It's a word we made up whose derivatrion comes from the word "spaz", but not from the meaning of "spaz", if that makes any sense.

It does. Spazzed is not context free if you're a Deathmatcher (but not everyone is) and it has a very specific meaning having nothing to do with a derogatory use of the word spaz. Istanbul was robbed. Istanbul got the shaft.

But I can see being uncomfortable if you don't know that (or even if you do, I guess), and the word spaz is offensive to you. I've been trying to come up with a comparison, because my USian brain doesn't recoil from it any more than it does from geek, nerd, freak or weirdo (although some USian brains do) ... I can see if I happened upon a thread with some version of retard in it (which I do find offensive), and I didn't know the sooper seekrit, thread-specific buffista meaning, then I'd do a double take. Of course, I'm not implying that retard is inoffensive anywhere, just that I think I have the same reaction to it as some do to spaz.

This is not helping me make up my mind, really. I guess I like Spazzed because I associate it with the Deathmatch meaning. But, you know, "Inner Moppet got Spanked" -- because it SO did -- would work form me, so I'm living in my own little World of Fun.

But if Spaz gets spazzed for thread title after having been coined because it got spazzed for OTQ? There's a certain bit funny in that.

if I happened upon a thread with some version of retard in it (which I do find offensive), and I didn't know the sooper seekrit, thread-specific buffista meaning

I don't think this is necessarily about a sooper-sekrit Buffista meaning (though, since I'm not in the deathmatches, I didn't realize you had co-opted "spaz," much the way we co-opted "foamy") -- several people who aren't deathmatchers said they didn't realize it had an offensive connotation.

Again, I don't care about the thread title. But I *do* care about whether or not my speech in general is offensive, and I didn't realize that it may have been. (Not necessarily *here* -- anywhere.)

I don't think this is necessarily about a sooper-sekrit Buffista meaning

Right, I agree, actually, which is why I added "(or even if you do [know what it means])" to the part about being uncomfortable with it. Huh - I guess in my hypothetical even if I did know the SSBM of some derivation of retard, I might still be uncomfortable with it. OK, I see what you're saying (I think) -- I didn't carry that through all the way to that part of the discussion.

But I *do* care about whether or not my speech in general is offensive, and I didn't realize that it may have been. (Not necessarily *here* -- anywhere.)

Well, sure. So do I care about that (and you didn't say I didn't), and neither did I realize it might have been until today.

ETA: Also? I'm going to stop thinking out loud about this now. Rambling was I.

Still pro-spaz but preferring the newly minted verb variation, "Istanbul got Spazzed!"

Maybe we can solicit opinion in UnAmerican to see if the distinction between noun-spaz and verb-spazzed would be enough to ease any discomfort with the language.

I will note that the nearest corollary to me would be "retard" - a word I don't use anymore. But that "Istanbul got Retarded" is a different meaning than "Istanbul got Spazzed."

"Spazzed" refers to what happened to Snyder's quote, not anything that's spastic.

I will note that the nearest corollary to me would be "retard" - a word I don't use anymore. But that "Istanbul got Retarded" is a different meaning than "Istanbul got Spazzed."

Retard is a commonly used and socially acceptable verb which means to slow or delay. But I agree with your point.

Retard is a commonly used and socially acceptable verb which means to slow or delay.

Well, of course it is. That's not the sense in which I find it offensive.

But that "Istanbul got Retarded" is a different meaning than "Istanbul got Spazzed."

Well, in my hypothetical, it had taken on a different meaning just as with spazzed. Also? In my plan? Beltless. IJS.