[Washington Post] Turns out, the language one uses in speeches on the House floor is no small matter. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) today apologized for using what he terms "the m-word" during a speech the previous evening.Oh, noze! Not the "m" word! Quick, Ethel! My pills!
What is this shocking term? Midget.
Ohmigawd! That's even worse than the "p" word or the "u" word or the "d" word! I think.
The Georgia Democrat used the word -- offensive to some, who prefer the term "little people"
They mean the vertically challenged, aka the Unheightly...
to describe those with dwarfism, he noted today --
Ummm... Midgets have always been defined as adults under something like 4'11".
| Except in California, where even the Little People are bigger, as my family are fond of reminding me. That's the real reason I live elsewhere. |
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in a metaphor about the Michigan labor situation in which he made a point about an unfair matchup. "What happens when you put a giant with a midget in a cage fight?" he asked rhetorically.
Couldn't tell you. I've never seen a cage fight and I'll gouge out my eyes before I do...
Today, he said he has since learned that the language is "no longer socially acceptable," much like the "n-word," which he said used to be widely used but is no longer.
Except by black folk among themselves, seemingly incessantly, and by white movie directors who are terribly trendè...
"It was out of ignorance, not spite or hatred," he said.
Great Goo! A congressman admitting to the "i" word!
"I will never use that term again."
I guess it's not okay for anybody to be great enough to dwarf those around him, huh?
And we all thought Hank was a one hit wonder...