The term "Mong"

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Discussion

wildcat45

Original Poster:

8,056 posts

188 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Am I the only one on here who does find it grossly offensive?

I am not a precious PC type.

I am if anything quite right wing and intolerant of left wing PC people who use terms like "challenged" "differently able" and the like.

I grew up in the 1980s where we laughed at and imitated Joey Decon. Where the terms Spastic, Spacca, Mong and a host of other words were socially acceptable.

Times change and I doubt any reasonable person would use a term like "Spacca" or "Joey" these days.

Not so with "Mong". Do those who use the term not connect it with people who have Downs Syndrome? 20 or more years ago, they were commonly known as "Mingols". People of my parents generation would use the term, not as a term of abuse, but because it was in general use.

I read today on here Mongs drive Audis. Most days I learn that the woman a PHer had a row with in a car park was a fat Mong, that the man over the road is a Mong.

I can not believe that the people here on PH really hate Downs sufferers. I think the term must be used in ignorance, but that still doen't make it OK.





Edited by wildcat45 on Thursday 17th July 10:28

9mm

3,128 posts

209 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Current use of the word has nothing to do with Downs. Same as gay no longer has anything to do with being happy and carefree. As you say, people no longer use words like spazz and equally the word mongol is no longer used to describe people with Downs.

Tuvra

7,920 posts

224 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
I don't think its bad. The days you speak of were before my time, nowadays I think "Mong" is thought of more like:

1. (Mong)- Slang for spastic, but used against a person who says or does something completely idiotic by accident or without realisation.
2. (Monged)- A very negative state of mind/being usually effective after consuming large quantities of alcohol, weed, lsd, ecstasy etc or combinations of.

otolith

55,899 posts

203 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Spastic, retard, imbecile - there is a whole class of insults derived from abandoned medical language for the disabled.

Bluequay

1,963 posts

217 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
wildcat45 said:
Am I the only one on here who doesn't find it grossly offensive?

I can not believe that the people here on PH really hate Downs sufferers. I think the term must be used in ignorance, but that still doen't make it OK.
So are you for or it against it? or just can't make your mind up?

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

264 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
wildcat45 said:
Am I the only one on here who doesn't find it grossly offensive?
I also don't find it grossly offensive.

HTH.

shakotan

10,679 posts

195 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
wildcat45 said:
Am I the only one on here who doesn't find it grossly offensive?
Well, I'm glad we cleared that up, you mong.

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
The thread title made me chuckle.

ClassicMotorNut

2,438 posts

137 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
I agree with you, wildcat. I used the term on another forum a while ago and received a polite message from another user, not a soft P.C. ste by any means, but a father of someone with Down's syndrome. He explained its connotations, understood that I had used it in ignorance of its original meaning and was fine with that, but asked that I don't use it again because of the way it had been used.

One thing that I hate is when people insist on words being offensive, as opposed to the context in which they are used. Today, of course, 'mong' is rarely used to insult a Down's syndrome sufferer and instead it refers to an idiot, so you could say that it shouldn't be offensive because it isn't intended to offend people with Down's syndrome. Regardless, it does equate Down's syndrome sufferers with stupid tts and that, in my opinion, is not nice.

Eric Mc

121,774 posts

264 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Yep - I never made the connection between the word "Mong" and "Mongolism". Obvious when it's explained.

What do people from Mongolia call themselves - Mongites?

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
This is a wild guess, but I'd say they call themselves "Mongolians"

Snowboy

8,028 posts

150 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Err. You're wrong.
"Mong" is used as a term of abuse against people with Downs; you're probably not aware of it because you don't know people with downs or people who would insult them.

If I see someone use the phrase I see it as an indication that the person using it is not a nice person.
The use of it reflects badly on them.

It is offensive.
I respect your right to use it; I respect your right to be offensive.
But I respect my right to think using it makes you look like a very unpleasant person.


wildcat45

Original Poster:

8,056 posts

188 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Bluequay said:
So are you for or it against it? or just can't make your mind up?
Good spot. I'll change that

Riff Raff

5,086 posts

194 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
BrabusMog said:
This is a wild guess, but I'd say they call themselves "Mongolians"
Mongols? Google the Golden Horde.

wildcat45

Original Poster:

8,056 posts

188 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
To clear things up, I find the term offensive.

It may be an age thing. A mate of mine - early 40s like me - heard two of his staff describing someone as a Joey. He questioned them about it. They thought it was as inoffensive as Wally. They knew nothing of Joey Deacon, who most kids of a certain age (me included) mocked.

I think it must be ignorance. I still hate the term Mong.

onyx39

11,109 posts

149 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
wildcat45 said:
They knew nothing of Joey Deacon, who most kids of a certain age (me included) mocked.

I was about to post this, how many people these days would actually know who Joey Deacon was? Unless of course they are of a similar age to me (mid 40's) who watched Blue Peter when he was featured.

Eric Mc

121,774 posts

264 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
The big question is, who was "Wally"?

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Riff Raff said:
BrabusMog said:
This is a wild guess, but I'd say they call themselves "Mongolians"
Mongols? Google the Golden Horde.
I'm pretty sure the Chinese guy in South Park calls them, "God damn Mongolians!"

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

264 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
onyx39 said:
I was about to post this, how many people these days would actually know who Joey Deacon was? Unless of course they are of a similar age to me (mid 40's) who watched Blue Peter when he was featured.
I suppose they might think that "joey" referred to the moron/imbecile/idiot from Friends. The character has a low IQ, and without the number I'm not sure which word applies.

otolith

55,899 posts

203 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
Personally I've never heard it used as a term of abuse to someone with Downs, though there is no doubt that it is derived from that meaning. Nor have I heard "idiot" or "retard" used as terms of abuse to people with what are now called learning difficulties. The insult is usually to accuse the target of the abuse of having a characteristic they don't have.

Similar, perhaps, to the way "Jew" was used when I was a boy - we didn't actually know any Jewish people, but it was used as a synonym for "miser". As in "give us a toffee, you Jew". Wrong, and not just grammatically, but we didn't really understand the ethnic stereotype we were using, it was just a word.