Other What's ruining your life right now?

Make it your priority then, mate. I usually don't advocate it, but go on sick leave NOW and get searching.

 

Sounds like he is in the U.S, where you are perfectly disposable.

Depending on the state and the contract he signed he may not get paid for being sick.

 

In his situation I wouldn't care.

 

Andersen's location, below his username, is Wembley.

 

I don't see that for some reason.

 

You don't see it on the narrow forum setting

 

I'm on narrow on the PC, I don't see it on the phone.

 

Indeed. It turns out its missing from the forum light theme, rather than from the forum width.

 

Ambulance chasers don't care about you, only potential profit.

 

Could we try not to use words like mong or retard, please? Thanks

 

It's an old saying. IIRC its full word was mongol. I don't know why really. Maybe because people with severe autism or down syndrome look like mongols? Yeah apparently it was an 80s terminology.

 

I recently found out that "to gyp someone" refers to gypsies and is of course offensive. Whereas "give you gyp" is an old word for pain.

I believe mongoloid features was the medical terminology of the time. Much as spasticated movements is another medical term that has been adopted and used offensively.

The English language is fantastic but it's built up from who knows what. I'm sure it's a nightmare to learn but wonderful to study.

 

My understanding was that 'mongoloid' was at, one time, the "medical" term for something too.

Same for 'retard' and 'spastic'.

I think I saw a comedian do a bit about how the changing medical lingo eventually just changed the insult, which.. well, is pretty true in my limited experience.

 

I used the term "retarded" once to mean "slowed", i.e. "this batch processing seems retarded, let me check what's going on with it" or some such context . I apparently upset someone enough to report me to my manager that I had not only used the term, but used it to refer to something stupid or broken (I mean, surely jumping to that conclusion highlight's the reporters own biases when I literally meant something was slowing it down, because I expected it to be further along by that point) Fortunately we both agreed that it was both an over-reaction and misunderstanding, but so many others have not been so fortunate.

Moral of the story, never say anything to anyone just in case it might be taken the wrong way, or misheard in a way that might get you in trouble.

 

Mongol, spastic and backward were in common use when I was growing-up through the seventies. Eg, the charity now known as Scope was then known as the National Spastics Society and it was common to refer to someone as a spaz.