Comment on If "infant" means child does that mean that "fant" means adult?
SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world 11 months agoProbably falls into the same or similar category as calling them dumb, ones open a time an acceptable word to call them, but not really today. You know unless you are looking to insult them for being mute.
hydrospanner@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Right. The term that would probably fit the context would be “infantile”, which again has negative connotations.
English has a long history of descriptors of intellectual deficiencies becoming contemporary insults then terms to be avoided because of that insensitive use, then the use continuing until everyone’s kinda desensitized to it but now it can’t be used in the original context.
See also: idiot, imbecile, moron, etc.
Currently going through that process: “retarded”.
squaresinger@feddit.de 11 months ago
Happens in most languages.
Also, many languages have a link between deafness and lacking intelligence, e.g. dumb meaning “not able to speak” and “not intelligent”.
In general, being sensitive to people with disabilities (both physical and mental) is a rather young concept, hence anything that would make someone not be able to be part of society is often also an insult.
That’s also why e.g. terms linked deafness/muteness are often an insult to someone’s intelligence, while e.g. terms linked to blindness are not. Blind people might be unable to perform some things seeing people are able to, but blindness doesn’t necessarily limit someone’s ability to be part of a society unaccomodating to people with disabilities.