spaz
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom spastic.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /spæz/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -æz
Noun
editspaz (plural spazzes) (slang, derogatory, offensive)
- A stupid or incompetent person.
- 1981, Stephen King, The Jaunt:
- In fact, it was the view of the scientists now in charge […] that the freakier they were, the better; if a mental spaz could go through and come out all right […] then the process was probably safe for the executives, politicians, and fashion models of the world.
- 2006, Tiger Woods, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- “I was so in control from tee to green, the best I’ve played for years… But as soon as I got on the green I was a spaz.”
- A hyperactive person.
- A tantrum, a fit.
- A person with spastic paralysis, spastic cerebral palsy or epilepsy
Usage notes
editThe offensiveness of this term and of spastic differs somewhat between the US the UK and Ireland. In the UK and Ireland, it is highly offensive. The term is more commonly used in the U.S., but is still offensive to some disabled people. See spastic for more.[1][2][3]
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editstupid person
hyperactive person
See also
editVerb
editspaz (third-person singular simple present spazzes, present participle spazzing, simple past and past participle spazzed)
- (slang, derogatory, offensive) To have a tantrum or fit.
- (slang) To malfunction, go on the fritz.
Usage notes
editThe sense “to malfunction” is the only sense that is not insulting to the object, and is cognate to spasm (compare seize up), but still may cause offense due to connections with spastic.
Synonyms
edit- (have a tantrum): freak out
Derived terms
editTranslations
edithave a tantrum
|
malfunction
References
edit- ^ Murphy, M Lynne (2007 February 28) “spastic, learning disability”, in Separated by a Common Language[1], retrieved 2007-08-17
- ^ “BBC worst word vote”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[2], 2007 March 20 (last accessed), archived from the original on 20 March 2007
- ^ The s-word, by Damon Rose, BBC News, 12 April 2006
Anagrams
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- Rhymes:English/æz
- Rhymes:English/æz/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English slang
- English derogatory terms
- English offensive terms
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs