Now The Word Leper Is Unacceptable

[DTCwordfan]

used a a five letter solution to a crossword clue 'outcast' as in an edition of 'Life and Work', the protest coming from the CEO of the Leprosy Mission in Scotland, she saying that she was 'somewhat dismayed' and that the use of the L-word should be banned, summarising 'in fact, we should have a campaign entitles "Delete the L-word",

Daily Telegraph page 2 today.

Purleeese - this is taking things yet another step too far. What next, a purge of disease names and any associated adjectives?

Views?

[pixie374]

It's a word. What do they want to replace it with?

[JJ109]

Simple solution - ban the word "banned" - then nobody can ban anything anymore!

[pixie374]

Ah, was it the definition?

[pixie374]

I can understand, tbh, why using medical words, which actually mean something specific, should be used accurately, rather than is insults" and why people want to reclaim their own words for accuracy.
Lots of words... psycho, spastic, schizo, homo, mental, demented... and so on, were turned into "derogatory" words and have been claimed back. Accuracy is good.

[eve1974]

But leper is someone who has leprosy. Can’t see what they cld replace it with?

Leprosy positive individual perhaps?

[pixie374]

Eve, I am suspecting now, it can be used for what is actually means. It doesn't mean "outcast" though. It's a disease.

[sandyRoe]

There used to be a 'Cripples Institute ' in Belfast which had workshops for disabled people. If it's still operating I'm sure the name will have been changed.
Coupling leper with outcast seems usage from another time, too.

[THECORBYLOON]

It's similar to diabetes and diabetic.

Some folk are described as diabetics as if they are a separate group whereas they are like other folk except they also have diabetes.

[Lie-in King]

I have to agree that using "leper" to answer the clue "outcast" is unacceptable.

[barry1010]

That is exactly what the Leprosy Mission is complaining about - the use of the word 'leper' to mean 'outcast'.

[sandyRoe]

Isn't another name for leprosy Hansons disease?

[barry1010]

Sandy, The Cripples' Institute is now called The Northern Ireland Institute for the Disabled

[andy-hughes]

eve - // But leper is someone who has leprosy. Can’t see what they cld replace it with? //

As I interpret the point, it is not the use of the word leper, which is you correctly point out, is the adjective for someone suffering from leprosy.

I think the problem is the association with the notion of exclusion from society - which was accurate in times gone by, when lepers were shunned and excluded from society, but not accurate now, when it is a treatable condition dealt with in the community.

Clearly it would be utterly pointless and OTT, not to say achingly right-on, to try and airbrush the word, either from history, or from modern usage, since its meaning is perfectly clear, and that, after all, is the point of language in the first place.

[barry1010]

Yes, Sandy, except it is Hansen's Disease :)

[Canary42]

Good old Daily Telegraph , doing what it does best - preserving past prejudices.

The papers proprietor Sir Frederick Barclay could perhaps be regarded as an Outcast, having settled on the island of Brecqhou in order to protect his enormous wealth from UK taxes. But we don't want him being called a leper do we ?

[pixie374]

Do you have a link, dtc? To see what they are actually saying?

[Mamyalynne]

It's all steeped in history, fear and mistrust and such long standing terms can be hard to shift.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy_stigma

[brainiac]

//As I interpret the point, it is not the use of the word leper, which is you correctly point out, is the adjective for someone suffering from leprosy. //

Leper isn't an adjective, it's a noun. I thought you made your living from writing, andy :)

[Sqad]

Nearly right sandy...Hansen was a Norwegian Dr who described it.

[Mamyalynne]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/readers-fuming-after-church-scotland-24409352