Is "Weird" a Bad Word?

I don't think weird is bad at all. Weird is just that something is outside of the majority or expected norm. It's not saying that whatever the weird people or doing is even bad, just that it's different. And there's nothing inherently wrong with being different and nothing wrong with pointing out when things are different.

It wasn't your use of the word 'weird' that was the only problem, although that didn't help. How about the title, which was offensive right off the bat? "Ugly manga chicks" who are "dudes" calls right back to the "chicks with dicks" language that is so very often used to describe transsexual and transgender people, often incorrectly, in pornography and pejoratively and in most corners of Western culture.

Not to mention outright calling these people 'ugly' shows your colors quite a bit as well. They may not fit your standard of beauty, but you're not the one who gets to make that judgment for all people and all cultures.

"Weird" is not necessarily a moral judgement, any more than "normal" is, or for that matter, "freak." Those who are offended by such labels ought to look at what they really mean and examine their own hang-ups about it before trying to police other people's language. You can call someone a name and they might be offended, or they might not. Which response is truly the more even-headed? "Weird" is not good or bad, it is just weird, which means outside the realm of everyday experience. To some people, that's a good thing. Others not so much. Take it as it's given, folks, before taking offense.

Purposefully avoiding calling things weird when they're weird is like the folks in the old Emperor's New Clothes tale not acknowledging that the Emperor was naked.

They were weird (as in not normal). To dress like a cartoon that you have some kind of sexual fetish for is just not right no matter how you look at it. PCness shouldn't replace good ol' common sense.

Thinking of someone and having them call you minutes later is weird.

Mixing wine and 7-up is weird.

Cosplayers are weird - crossdressing cosplayers are weirder.

None of these things are 'bad', and things that *are* bad that are *also* weird (having intercourse with a horse... of course of course) are usually called 'bad'. You wouldn't say a rapist is weird as a definitive statement. "Those rapists sure are weird". There's no vitriol or contempt in that statement despite the subject being something as inherently deplorable as a rapist.

@halieus

"To dress like a cartoon that you have some kind of sexual fetish for is just not right no matter how you look at it."

Care to explain what makes such a harmless act 'wrong'? or as you put it, 'not right'? Right and wrong are issues of ethics, not morals.

I think folks that are being weird shouldn't be offended by it. The chances are good that they know they're weird. It's not going to shock them. It's probable that it had already occurred to them that they're not operating within what's expected. But if perchance they did think they were being odd, they should be informed. It's good to know who you are how others perceive you and how it fits in in the spectrum of society and to come to terms with that and be who you want to be.

Especially in reference to behaviors that are controllable and volunatary, there's nothing wrong with being weird and calling those behaviours weird. Like if you dress up in a wild costume or paint your house neon green or drive an art car with a thousand superman figures glued to it, you chose to do those things. It's not like being born different with something that's difficult to hide. It's not like being deaf or having a birthmark. It's something you knew wasn't what everyone else was doing and you chose that it makes you happy and you want to do it anyway. If you don't want to be weird, don't be. If you don't want to be called weird, don't be weird. If you want to be weird, be weird, be wildly, freely gloriously weird, but don't get all hurt by it or act offended by it when you're called out on it.

Just ignore all these weaklings making a fuss.
No one should care.

"Weird" is a weir that has caught a d.

It is not bad, of itself: does noone remember the film "Weird Science?"

But as to the post, I thought it was weird in its approach.

"Keep Portland Weird" is an evil demand, because it's ripping off the demand "Keep Austin Weird".

I'm told that I am weird all the time. Those that tell me that do so in such a way that I take it as a badge of honor. Those that are offended are probably offended by nearly everything, so I wouldn't take them too seriously. After all, if you can't laugh at yourself, you have serious problems.

This is a complete non-issue, except for a transgender advocate who is reading way more into this then needed. Apparently also felt the need to get her twitter crew involved, so it's nothing you need to worry about again since they were only brought here by the stink.

Who doesn't have weird characteristics? It's perfectly fine, there's nothing wrong with it at all. I do "weird" things, you do "weird" things. It's like being called normal.

Also, why's it so bad that he called someone ugly? He can't have an opinion? He can't say that a tranny is pretty, either, right? Can't make any judgement at all as to the appearance of a transsexual? Or is there a double standard here? He can say they're pretty, but not that they're ugly?

And don't get me started on the chicks/dudes PC debate.

I have always been called weird. I have never thought of it as negative.
I think people were offended at the ugly and crossdressing title.
But...haters gotta hate.
As someone who does cosply - I know my limits when it comes to my body shape. Unfortunately some chicks do not, which brings me to the male cosplayers dressing up as females - I'd rather see a skinny Chinese guy with feminine features playing a Sailor Scout than this http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g10/Junipop/PD/nov03-02.jpg

Also - I think western culture is not as adjusted to eastern cultures views of men crossdressing. Over there it is nothing. Over here it is almost taboo.

like I said "Haters gotta Hate". And Neatorama seems to have it's share of haters, yo.

If you are so heartless that you would rather offend somebody to the point of making them feel less than human than think about what you're saying, then you're a complete jerk.

When you say words like retard, lame, tranny, freak and somebody tells you that it really bothers them then the appropriate response is not to put them down further and try to make them sound hysterical. All you're doing is telling them that your "right" to use a word, ONE word out of millions, is more important than they are.

All you have to do is acknowledge what they are saying, apologize for hurting them and say you'll be sure and be more aware of your words in the future. THAT'S IT! It's really not that hard you guys.

Most these comments are a double wide load of crap.

Neatorama is read by a bazillion people.

If Alex (and crew) removed all the words that could possibly offend any of their readers - the blog would be nothing but a page with the vowels a,i,o (because I hate the vowel "u" and I'm sure someone must feel the same thing about "e").

Get over it people - isn't it a American saying that goes "Sticks and Stones...."?

@StellaT

...Except that nobody used ANY of the words you list, and if you threw 'weird' into that list and we all played 'one of these things is not like the others', 'weird' would be that one thing.

If you are offended by being called 'weird', it is not the fault of the person who said it. You might as well get offended by the word 'man' or 'peanut butter'. Many feminists will get offended by the words 'chick', 'babe', hell some get offended by the word 'woman' and insist it be spelled 'womyn'.

It is our duty as decent human beings to make reasonable efforts to not offend others, but not at the cost of castrating the language. Beyond that, it's a measure of equality when people can talk frankly about formerly taboo subjects. Gays, transgender persons, Canadians - it doesn't matter - no group is above any other. If it's ok to say, as an opinion, that Canadians are weird (and i'm *pretty* sure that's an ok thing to say, regardless of its veracity - it's subjective, people) then it's ok to say crossdressing cosplayers are weird. Hell, 'weird' is pretty much the most innocuous thing you COULD say about them.

@Vonskippy

I don't like "Y", he's a damn flip-flopper and he asks too man damn questions that go nowhere.

Listen, this issue isn't about using the word "weird" OR the word "ugly." It's about othering a group of people whose gender presentation doesn't fit into society's mold and are, therefore, a highly marginalized group of people. People with non-traditional gender presentation are heavily discriminated against and abused for being who they are. That abuse includes othering, which basically means that someone says "Hey, look at these freaks who aren't like us. Aren't those freaks funny?" That attitude makes it easier for others to discriminate against, laugh at, misunderstand, hate, and physically harm them because they see that society (which this site is a part of) sees transgender people as somehow less than human.

The attitude exhibited here makes it clear that neatorama is okay with ridiculing a group of people who already have it bad by posing them as something to be laughed at. Way to go! You failed at being interesting and turned to cheap humor at the expense of others!

Try as it might, Portland fails to be all that "weird." It's a nice city with its fair share of hipsters, dog-owners, homeless people, homeless hipsters, and artists, but not as weird as, say, NYC. Most of the Portlanders I meet are ordinary, like you'd find in any major metropolitan area.

Really? You've decided that your use of the word "weird" was what people were taking exception to, out of all the comments that were posted? And instead of doing a little self-directed research, altering the offensive title, and apologizing for mocking the gender expression of others, you make a follow-up post reiterating how right you are and how wrong those weird people are for taking offense? (Again, http://www.derailingfordummies.com/ )

And when did Neatorama's mission statement include an aspiration to tabloid entertainment?

@Fin

Are you saying that Neatorama has a responsibility for the opinions of all the people who comment on their boards? You are being very vague and making a generalized comment to a group of people, without evidence of who said what. You can call out an individual on their ignorance and inform them where they have offended you, but nobody (I repeat NOBODY), does not have the right to not be offended. You want to feel persecuted, go right ahead, but don't blame a blog for the actions of others for the actions of others that they had no control over. If you knew anything about the GLBT (Currently there's an alphabet soup after that I haven't kept up with), you would know that censorship is the enemy, and extreme moderation does more bad then good. I am more then ready to open up a can of worms, but please, lets stick to the facts so we can actually get somewhere. Also keep in mind there are people that want to shoot their load, not care who it hits, then stand there and laugh. Can't do anything about those people, but please don't blame the blog.

Hahaha poor Alex calls a few transsexuals ugly and suddenly he's "othering" (we're inventing words just for the purpose of victimizing a group? that's far more offensive than anything Alex has said) an entire group/culture?

Alex didn't say all transsexuals are weird or that they're all ugly. He referenced a few and that's it. He made no judgement that applied to the entire group itself. The whole "white knight" bs needs to stop. There are other more productive things you can do to make yourself feel more important.

Are you saying that Neatorama has a responsibility for the opinions of all the people who comment on their boards?

First and foremost, they have a responsibility for what they say themselves -- and since this conversation started with how problematic the original post was, maybe we should stick with that, hm?

(we're inventing words just for the purpose of victimizing a group?

Othering is not an 'invented' word. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=othering

@knitmeapony

To me honest, you are the only advocate here that is making sense. Most are going off on a tangent, but you clearly defined that you were offended by "ugly manga chicks" and also called "dudes" in the same sentence, but you fail to offer a solution on what you feel unoffensive language is in such a situation. So what, Alex has had no contact at all with TS/TV culture, and probably hasn't been to a manga convention either so isn't used to what goes on at those either. Feel free to let him know, but reading you twitter page, I think you jumped the gun and got angry because of a misunderstanding and started yelling persecution.

@Gauldar

The solution is to not point and laugh at people that are different from you. If someone is obviously going for comedy, that's one thing. But if someone is genuinely engaging in some behavior that is a) clearly enjoyable to them and b) something that you do not understand, that doesn't give you the right to say HEY, LOOK AT THE WEIRDOS. That's pretty standard bullying language, honestly. "It's not my fault he's so weird" sounds like something that comes straight out of the mouth of fifteen year old assholes who beat up anyone who is different than them.

The point is that there isn't language which makes it better; the point is that the entire post was off base, childish, and frankly crude.

I am also pointedly aware that every comment I make is now going into moderation. I believe it's pretty shitty behavior on the part of (I must assume) Alex to put me on moderation for disagreeing with him.

Don't worry, knitmeapony (love that name). The commentbot gets triggered by the darndest things, and you are not being censored. Your comment will appear soon.

@Knitmeapony

For crying out loud! It's not Alex, it's the auto mod. Yeah, it catches even the slightest thing, such a possible dirty word inside another legit word. Of course it's annoying, but for the love of Cthulhu and all that is holy, stop screaming persecution where there isn't any.

@Johnny Cat - Thanks.

@Gauldar - Having never been modded here before, and suddenly being modded in THIS thread and not the last, where I used similar language, it seemed pretty frustratingly obvious.

@knitmeapony

Fair enough, but know that Alex hasn't blocked me off yet with my random douchebaggery and opinions. He's very tolerant.

knitmeapony, I was surprised that nobody replied to my last comment in that thread. Was the force of my logic that irresistible?

It sounds like lots of whiny people trying to make mountains out of molehills.

Call me weird, I don't care. Weird is to me like a psychiatrist calling his victim/patient obsessive or compulsive or depressed or neurotic - commonplace.

Weird is normal. Immoral and unethical on the otherhand are unacceptable.

I don't see what the problem is with the post. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as pro-GLBT as any other guy, and I'm definitely not a stranger to anime or cosplay. That being said, I still don't see what the problem is. Operating under the assumption that this was a humorous title by Alex (and this is the basis for my entire opinion) there isn't anything wrong with the title. He pointed out that the males (who are referred to as males, not as transsexuals) appear to be ugly females at first glance. This is a reasonable statement - not one that is inherently nice, but reasonable - as I'm sure that anyone would think the same thing unless they were intimately familiar with this sect of cosplayers.
So really, if the 'ugly-chicks' title isn't offensive, then the only thing left is his use of 'chicks' and 'dudes' instead of male and female (or women, or womyn). Personally, I have used 'dude' and 'chick' for years to refer to my peers and contemporaries, and see nothing offensive with his use of them in the post. I understand that these terms can sometimes be used in an intentionally derogatory way, but I do not believe that that was his intent.

knitmeapony- I got moderated over the oddest things...I can't figure out what triggers it the majority of the time. They all go through in time, though.

As for the post, if it were called "wrong", for example, I would hold umbrage with it. As it is, "weird" isn't offensive. I'm weird. Everyone's weird. The "normal" people are freaks, and probably Stepford Wives.

No, "weird" is not a bad word but I do find the title of that post offensive. When I read that you wrote about "cross-dressing cosplayers in China" I expected the title to say that but I got "Those ugly Manga chicks? They're dudes!"

If you had said that as a comment on the post, then I wouldn't take much offense to it but I thought making that the title going too far.

But I have noticed that Alex's posts have been less PC than other posters but for someone who doesn't visit Neatorama much, it might give off a different interpretation.

growing up, i was always called weird, and it hurt. then in college English, i learned that it came from an older word which meant "possessed of unusual life force", in the sense of magical, and then it became a badge of honor. after that, anyone who called me that, I just smiled and said thanks. and to the tranny defenders, god, lighten up. you perpetuate your victim consciousness with all this grandstanding, and only externalizificate the group from which you get the bulk of your identity even further.

Even Urban Dictionary doesn't have a definition yet for "exotification", what is it?

If I had to guess I would say it's reducing people to their origin or mannerisms or race or religion or features or interests or activities based on being not normally found in that area or activities not readily participated in.

But we do that all the time. The janitor at the gym is only known to me as the janitor at the gym. I don't know anything else about him. It's not exotic but am I required to make an effort to know everyone I encounter more than once?

bones, are you sure that definition wasn't for the word "wired"? Cause that fits, too.
:)

I think it is all about intent. My friends calling me weird isn't a problem, but when a person rolls their eyes and scoffs "...weird" then yeah, it is insulting. Having been called weird many times in my life, I can at least anecdotally say that the effect varies on the situation.

To me, "weird" simply means "unusual". There's no implied sense of good or bad, just like "big" doesn't mean good or bad, it just means "big". But in general I'm attracted to things (and people) that are weird, so the word has a slightly positive connotation for me.

Can't say I blame the LGBT crowd for being a bit sensitive. They're constantly ridiculed and harrassed both verbally and physically, in nearly all corners of the culture, simply because of who they are. While the original post may not have risen to the level of "shocking offense," it certainly displayed a "look at the weirdos" attitude. Perpetuating the theme just reinforces the notion that it's OK to think of them as defective human beings--a notion so widespread that people treat it as a foundational principle of our culture. For example, by posting derogatory articles about them on blogs.

My father called me his weird daughter and meant it as a compliment - I finally told him that since a large number of folks didn't understand this that it might be better to drop the "weird" and just say "eldest."

I also told him I knew it was a compliment - because he meant "different." I've enjoyed being unique since I've gotten away from high school sheep. Most people don't mature past graduation. It's sad.

LOLZ!! At least people are not bitchin' about how Alex has promoted another zombie or bacon article. LOL!!!

I think the Chinese guys would be upset as to being called transexuals. Because they usually are not. They are only doing crossplay.

Any time I am called weird, I smile broadly and exclaim, "Why, Thank-you!"

I think people need to stop being so overly hyper sensitive.

I don't think weird is bad. I just wish more people knew how to spell it.

@Gauldar

I was actually specifically talking about Alex's post and the opinions below it. Neatorama does actually have a responsibility toward what is and is not posted on the site, but my specific issue is with Alex and a lot of the people commenting who don't seem to find anything wrong with making fun of people who are just being themselves because (and this may be paraphrasing) "they know we're going to laugh and they do it anyway, so they must be okay with us laughing." That's similar to saying it's okay to bully that weirdo at school because he knows he's a weirdo and he continues to be weird.

Why do I not quote people directly more? Simple. They've already been quoted. The posts are linked to and there for all to see. And with my limited amount of time at home during the week, I simply do not have the time to have a proper debate.

I'm not calling for censorship. And I know plenty about GLBT. I'm calling for human consideration. I am saying that I am offended and I am saying that the othering of a group I am very close to is what is offending me. I do not have to defend this feeling. That is not my job.

I apologize for singling out neatorama as a whole, but I will single out Alex. I would also single out several people commenting if I had time to go back and retrieve all of their names and if I thought it would do any good. Seriously? This post is even an exercise in futility.

@OhYes

Othering is a word. Even if it weren't, your statement that it would be "far more offensive" is actually offensive. I don't see how making up a word in order to talk about an issue is more offensive than belittling an entire group of people. Belittling is a word too. Look it up.

Judgement isn't a word, btw. I think you're looking for judgment. If you really want to argue about word choice, I think I'm allowed to argue about spelling.

I won't even comment on your second paragraph. Why? Because you're right. There are more productive things I can be doing than arguing with bullies and trolls on the internet. Have fun being ignorant!

@Fin

Well thank you for your futile responce, that helps clear things up.

Wow, Fin.

I'm glad you have more time for other things than to pick apart variant spellings of words. Many people spell judgment with that extra e. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's not a valid word, with its own hopes, aspirations, and emotions. Quit othering alternative spellings.

I'm told the debate is entirely about word choice. It was about Alex's choice of words. Now, you're denying Gauldar the right to question your word choice. You object to belittling a whole group of people, and then proceed to try and personally belittle Gauldar (and a whole group of people who don't spell a real word the way you do) based on spelling.

There's a verse in the Bible about seeing the mote in someone else's eye, but you can't see the log that's in your own.

ted,

The word choice conversation was not to Guildar. It was to OhYes.

The debate is actually more about compassion toward our fellow human beings. Not about word choice. Something the Bible has several verses about. Read it again.

I was only using the Bible as a source for my quote. I actually read it in a sci-fi book, and not from the Bible itself. Sorry if you missed my point. You're being a hypocrite, no matter whose spelling you're choosing to condemn.

The entire debate stems from Alex's choice of words, and you continued to defend the use of words not normally seen in common parlance. Ergo, the discussion is about semantics. You do your thesis a disservice if you opt to vacillate so disingenuously.

@ted

Not the big words again! Ahhhh! It burns!

@Fin

I've never been called Guildar before. Interesting. If this whole argument is about forcing compassion onto people, that I disagree with quoting from a book based on the old testament which involved child abuse, incest, rape, and murder. Not only is this an argument about semantics, it's one about perception and intention. You have the strict belief that Alex's goal was to make fun of a group of people, but chances are, that title was the best thing he could come up with, and I'm sure it wasn't (and I'm just paraphrasing here) "Let’s think of a crafty way to make fun of these people".