3/9/2006: Quadruped humans (and international science)

[Undertoad]

Tipster, you're reading someone from another culture and some of the subtlety of informal language is lost.

It's funny, you know, I took some time to compose this entry and selected my language carefully in the section you object to most strongly.

If I was standing around with a group of friends, and saw someone walking on all fours in this way, I know what I would say: "Look at that retard!"

But I was recently watching an interview with actor John C. McGinley, whose son was born with Down Syndrome; and McGinley said that it really bothers him to hear people use the term "retard".

That's fair, I thought, and since Mr. McGinley did such a fine job in "Office Space", I was moved to feel that actually using the term "retard" was mean-spirited of me. So: what's another term to use for someone acting strangely to try to get attention? Because when you see strange behavior, half the time it's someone who's actually mentally handicapped, the term I decided to use instead; the other half the time, it's someone pretending to be, or something similar, to get attention.

"Spazz", I thought, has fallen so far from its original derivative that it's fair game. But apparently it has NOT fallen that far in other cultures!

So you see, in writing informally -- purposefully outside of journalistic style -- you always risk that someone will find your approach rude.

OK. Your other beefs, however, are merely incorrect.

"inbred" is precisely what the family is; that's how the different genes wind up expressing themselves.

"devolution", if it really is a word, is the take of the researchers:

While Humphrey may be dealing with a misconduct claim, Tan is on the defensive for another reason: his science. He has raised controversial hypotheses on the syndrome—that it represents "backward evolution" or "devolution," and other still more unusual concepts—provoking deep skepticism, even ridicule.

Lastly, a certain amount of mean-spiritedness may actually be required for the sake of humanity. Taboos such as against incest are handed down as important legends through the years. This is probably partly because there is a psychobiological component, but could be because it enables the improvement and survival of the human species through genetic diversity.