sped = special ed (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 10:43 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
> As a noun:
>
> New York Times, The (NY) - Sunday, August 9, 1987 p. 26 col 1
> "Slang expressions were exchanged. Our "nerds" are their " speds ." "

A little odd to think of "nerds" and "speds" as interchangeable, but
perhaps the focus was on lack of social graces (cf. "spaz") rather
than on intelligence.

> Post-Tribune (IN) - Sunday, December 10, 1989 p B1
>
> " They're teased on the buses and at schools, and the other students
> call them ' speds .'"

This one accords with my memory of grade-school taunts (central New
Jersey in the '80s), though "tard" was much more common. (There was
also "tart," as in "tart cart," for the "short bus" taking special-ed
kids to school.)


--Ben Zimmer

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