Hi!... BTW

[Rachel Berardinelli]

tl;dr

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 20:36:51 -0400
  James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society
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> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      Re: Hi!
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>
>>My, what charming language!
>
>Funny that she goes off on technical competence but can't
>figure out
> how to go to
> http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/ads_l_the_american_dialect_society_email_discussion_list/
> and read the instructions: "To leave the list at any
>time, send
> "SIGNOFF ADS-L" the complete body of an email message
>from the
> account which you would like to unsubscribe, to
> listserv at listserv.uga.edu." Highly intelligent people
>make slips of
> the finger all the time, but most of them can find out
>how to do what
> they want to do when they really want to do it.
>
> I was hoping there would be some fascinating usage in
>her email to
> focus on. Perhaps the most interesting question raised
>is how long
> "retarded" has been a common childish term of abuse.
>When I was a kid
> in the '70s, it was common among elementary and
>junior-high kids but
> faded a bit among high-schoolers and was uncommon, if
>memory serves,
> among university students (mid-'80s). But that was in
>Calgary.
>
> OED only gives the technical meaning; it doesn't give
>citations for
> the abusive meaning. I'm sure a probable date of
>incipience for the
> term of abuse could be estimated on the basis of when it
>came into
> common usage in the primary-school educational context;
>there would
> be some latency, no doubt, before it first appeared in
>print in that
> usage, little kids not being much for publishing.
>
> As to Ms. Berardinelli I hope some of her professors are
>on this
> list. But then they probably know what a sweetheart she
>is already.
> Next year, University of New Mexico will unleash this
>scintillating
> intellect on the world! (Assuming she doesn't flunk
>out.) Where, if
> she's lucky, she'll get her butt kicked enough times by
>enough people
> (metaphorically, of course) that she'll smarten up and
>grow up. She's
> studying anthropology. How sweet! I just can't wait to
>see what kind
> of success she'll have with research when she has no
>patience or
> concern for others.
>
> (How do I know all this? Because, like anyone at all, I
>can find it
> out with the easiest Google search. On her myspace page
> (blog.myspace.com/gekrepten) she has the headline "i say
>nothing for
> the good of myself". Would that it were true.)
>
> Ciao,
> James Harbeck.
>
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