Classic or Dud: Weird Al Yankovic

Shut up barrs

Hahahahaha

That Wikipedia article is pretty appalling. "Gay has come to be a playground synonym for weak, stupid, soft, embarrassing or otherwise undesirable. Therefore it is in no way offensive to use it as an insult, or say a rugby player is playing 'like a giant poofter' on broadcast television."

― boney tassel (sic), Thursday, July 17, 2014 6:35 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if only there were some way to change what a wikipedia article said

also that paris hilton video is pretty amazing, shame about the song

nobody in the U.S. is offended by the word spaz, just accept it.

1. Al doesn't use the word 'spaz' in the song
2. It's the fact of using a neurological condition as a pejorative, not the specific word that's the issue
3. "get over it" is not historically a useful response to using descriptors as slurs

if only there were some way to change what a wikipedia article said

Don't think this was Shakey's point in citing it as backup for "lol stfu spastics".

I'm pretty offended by Al's use of the word "Weird." Is it meant as a perjorative? Isn't he reifying received norms with its usage? Perhaps "Decentered/Problematized Al" would serve as a more useful nomiker.

"what is normal anyway al"

Spastic is simply not an offensive term in the u.s., it does not refer to a specific group of people or medical condition. I'm sorry this is difficult to understand.

Spastic is not a medical term, it is not used to refer to a neurological condition.

IN AMERICA. Where Weird Al is from.

I will not be lectured on the offensiveness of the word spastic by a nation of people who throw cunt and fag around indiscriminately.

Robbie Williams to thread

obsessed with the dolly zoom in the "foil" video

tbf if a british family entertainer used 'cunt' or 'fag' in their act it would be perhaps a little controversial

also his lil spokesmodel gesture towards the mushroom clouds xp

tbf if a british family entertainer used 'cunt' or 'fag' in their act it would be perhaps a little controversial

Right, I get that. It was just exaggerated hardmanning.

Spastic is not a medical term, it is not used to refer to a neurological condition.

What do you call people with CP?

I will not be lectured on the offensiveness of the word spastic by a nation of people who throw cunt and fag around indiscriminately.

What nation?

lol what do you call ppl w/ cp?

We call them people with cerebral palsy ime

lol what do you call ppl w/ cp?

cunts and phags

What do you call people with CP?

rolling teen pop thread?

huge lol

huge fp

"Spastic" is indeed a medical term, referring to a particular type of velocity- and direction-dependent increased tone in the skeletal muscles (seen mostly in the limbs), which is typically produced by a lesion in the corticospinal tract. Many neurological diseases cause some degree of spasticity, from spinal cord injuries to MS to stroke. People with cerebral palsy often have spasticity, but not always. "Spastic cerebral palsy" (often specified as "spastic hemiplegia", "spastic diplegia", etc) distinguishes that type from "ataxic" and "athetoid" CP, in which spasticity is not a feature.

There is no class of patients referred to simply as "spastic" by doctors in North America (and I don't think in the UK either). The word sometimes is used as an adjective to describe a pattern of gait or a form of dysarthria.

/neurologist

I knew the first time I heard Word Crimes that Language Log would have a post up within hours pointing out that the less vs fewer distinction and other "prescriptivist peeves" are not actually poor grammar. It took another couple of listens before it occurred to me that BrE speakers would find "spastic" offensive. Never thought "mouthbreathers" was offensive, how does that work again?

Great song anyway, way easier to take than the original.

"wretched fuckwit"

Not only is spastic completely inoffensive in America, the word "moron" in the song, which nobody has singled out, is inarguably more offensive in America. Nobody actually cares about either as anything more than making an inconsequential point, though, so it's not a big deal.

Is the word "retarded" considered offensive in the USA?

Yes, a lot of disability rights groups have rebranded away from the term. The American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) became the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). IDD is generally considered the more appropriate term right now.

Nobody actually cares about either as anything more than making an inconsequential point, though, so it's not a big deal

I was genuinely shocked by it ("Aw, not Al...." :( ), as per my posts to LL (and hl in the other thread) before it blew up itt

I'm pretty surprised someone would use the word "spastic" as a pejorative in 2014 too but then again I'm not familiar with Weird Al nor do I care about him. Also never been to the USA.

xp Fair enough, but as someone with several family members with pretty severe disabilities, I find that people love occasionally pointing out a spot of inappropriate language, but are perfectly content to ignore the issues otherwise. My school of thought is that as long as there's a world where a show like Derek exists, I have a really hard time caring about such a minor issue.

spaz if you want to

Weird Al seems a bit eugenicist, too, with his desire to get grammar offenders out of the gene pool — perhaps less compassionate than The Onion's old nation's educators alarmed by poorly written suicide notes.
The heroic persistence of Yankovic marches alongside the progressive normalization of geek culture, which may find itself enraged that the tools it created have made the voices of those it hates all the more publicly visible/audible ("we gave them Spell Check, yet look what they do!"). Weird Al generally seems innocuous enough to me, but this song seems to feed off some genuine resentment (even if it's not quite Al's own so much as something that "just works" for the song — not that I know one way or the other). What happened to daring to be stupid? One could care less about these things!

Yes Weird Al Yankovic is deliberately advocating for Eugenics, great call and excellent interpretation

This is ilm. We can ruin anything.

the entire premise of the song is dickish grammar nazi shit that anyone over 20 should have grown out of

sorry i didn't realise he was some sort of national treasure or w/e but yknow, deal

Can we all just go back and watch the "Foil" video again?

Seriously. Do it now if you haven't done it already.

The "I" of Weird Al's songs is alway Weird Al himself. He is also a fat surgeon who was in Nirvana.

he cannot pretend

he must actually be it

also he was in love with ricky?

the entire premise of the song is dickish grammar nazi shit that anyone over 20 should have grown out of

yes, i'm glad you got the joke!

With proper disciple "humour" is not necessary

I'm pretty offended by Al's use of the word "Weird." Is it meant as a perjorative? Isn't he reifying received norms with its usage? Perhaps "Decentered/Problematized Al" would serve as a more useful nomiker.

― relentlessly pecking at peace (President Keyes), Thursday, July 17, 2014 9:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

genius post imo

http://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-answers-our-11-questions-206949

5. How would your enemies describe you?

WAY: Very poorly, I’m sure. Probably using monosyllabic words, bad grammar, improper syntax. I have to assume my enemies are idiots.

otm based on available sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqg-YZhr3bA

so i googled to see whether weird al has ever acknowledged that his "trigger happy" was a total jack of "Skeet Surfin" from Top Secret and all i found was a big interview he did with the dissolve about Top Secret where he mentions how great "skeet surfin" is without bringing up "trigger happy."

maybe he made a deal with z.a.z. where in exchange for them not suing he has to praise the movie whenever possible?

lol i love that naked gun scene