_The r-word_ (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Victor Steinbok]

I don't think that's quite right, although there has been a definitive
decline in the use of "idiot". At some point, there must have been a
split between "savant" and "idiot-savant", with the latter implying a
certain degree of automaticity, and the former being the equivalent of
"genius" in doing something (e.g., playing a musical
instrument--"musical savant", etc.). These still are not equivalent, so
saying that one has been "replaced" by the other does not sound correct
to me. Now, if you said that there appears to have been a broadening
(merger?) of "savant" that incorporated what used to be under
"idiot-savant" because of the stigma attached to "idiot", I'd be
inclined to agree ;-) But looking at older texts (1900-1980) does not
tell me conclusively that "idiot-savant" was ever used pejoratively--in
fact, I can't recall a single instance of such use. So the change is
based more on popular misinterpretation of traditional nomenclature than
on any actual insults ever uttered.

     VS-)

On 2/23/2012 12:15 PM, Baker, John wrote:
> "Idiot savant" seems to have been pretty much replaced by just plain "savant," a meaning reflected in the current entries for "savant" in AHD5 and M-W, but not yet in OED.  I have to say that this is an example of political correctness that I have no problem with, notwithstanding the reversal in the original meaning of "savant."  Not only is "idiot" offensive, but savants typically are not idiots in the old technical sense (i.e., they rarely suffer from extremely severe mental retardation).  Wikipedia says that "autistic savant" has been suggested as an alternative, but many savants are not autistic.  Anyway, who uses savant in the old sense?  I haven't seen it used that way since Doyle's 1912 novel, The Lost World, and the very fact that I remember its use then shows how rare it was.
>
>
> John Baker

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