Fuming - details set out in email

fed_up_and_stressed

timbstoke wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it only offended you. The rest of us are grown ups.

The word cretin derives from insulting the disabled.

It is not something that should be tolerated Timbstoke.

Unless you seem to think mocking the disabled is appropriate?

Azari

timbstoke wrote: »

Oh do grow up.

She doesn't need to grow up, you need to learn to understand English.

Obviously words that are used to insult people are used in a derogatory way.

Whether or not they are acceptable is another matter.

Given that the use of words such as that to describe actual disabilities is no longer deemed acceptable it does not seem unreasonable to use them as insults.

What would be unacceptable to a considerate person would be to use them to describe the original disability or condition.

Riccal

Torry_Quine wrote: »

All three of those words are offensive and of course they are used in a derogatory way. What else could they be but an insult! 😕

However, the person in question endeavoured to gain some sort of vicarious pleasure by initimating that the card holder was short of money and was therefore worthy of insulting. As she would not have been given information that the card was declined due to lack of funds she made that assumption and felt that embarassing the card holder was something that was ok to do.

In my opinion she was stupid, shallow and ignorant. In the way that the word 'cretin' was being used she fulfills all the qualifications.

Not everybody researches the origin of words and phrases (which is sometimes a shame I admit) before using them casually. If the card holder had called her stupid would everyone have leapt onto the bandwagon - I think not.

Riccal