What's an equivalent replacement for the word "lame"?

I don’t know if I’m just becoming overly sensitive to my own language or if this is an actual issue, so feel free to let me know if it seems that I just need to grow thicker skin, but still.

I keep getting this uneasy feeling whenever I use the word “lame” and I think it’s because I’m starting to realize it’s technically ableist. However, there’s no single non-profane word that I know of that fits the niche that I use it in.

For example, I wrote out something earlier about a behavior I do that I don’t like that I do because I think it’s kind of shitty behavior, but it’s overall harmless. I use lame to describe it casually. I could also call it kind of shitty, as I did before, but not to audiences that I don’t want to use profanity around.

Anyone know of a word I can replace “lame” with?

I’d say maybe weak, but that’s got its own baggage that I’m not sure I’m ok with switching to. Annoying is too strong of a word for what I’m going for. Maybe lame is a short word for “this makes me feel slightly sad”?

Idk, so I open it up to the public: Is this even an issue or am I being too sensitive? Could this be solved in a single replacement word or do I need a whole ass phrase to express this?

Nemo,

It’s a real issue. I think the kids say “downbad” though that’s a little more emphatic. “Square” might work if you’re willing to go old-school. “Disappointing”, “suboptimal”, “lousy” all work in certain contexts.

RickRussell_CA,

Bogus!

liv,

Bogus still sort of means fake though…

deadbeef79000,

“Weak” or my personal favourite “mediocre” (thanks Immortan Joe).

Also “pathetic” or to channel my inner lemongrab: “unacceptable”.

millie,

As someone else here mentioned, language is only one tiny component of ableism. What would be much more impactful is to figure out in what ways you can make the spaces you have control over and inhabit more accessible. Personally, I’d find it much more helpful to do things like not wear heavy perfumes in public, avoid bringing your dog into enclosed spaces where you share air with others, or make sure your clothes aren’t covered in cat hair before you leave the house. In my experience, nobody really focuses on air quality or their affect on it, and this would go much further toward making the world a more accommodating place than fretting about a term that’s mostly used for horses and bad jokes.

I’m sure there are other things you can do to be accommodating of different disabilities, all of which are probably more worth the thought!

sirico,
@sirico@feddit.uk avatar

Dead

bermuda,

Banal

_TK,

I get the distaste, but language is a fluid thing. Plenty of words we use now do not mean the same thing as when they were first coined. I think Lame is a pretty safe word to use in modern times without people taking it poorly.

If you still have a distaste for it, then replacing it isn’t going to be that hard. Lame isn’t really part of my general speech, not for any particular reason, it just isn’t. I would say something sucks instead. If something doesn’t warrant the full suck to you, you could say “that’s rough” or something. Lame as a word fits in many situations, but maybe not all of those situations warrant the same word.

When I was a kid, everyone (and I mean everyone) in my age group described things as gay or retarded. Over time I grew out of that language and met people who were genuinely hurt by it enough for me to change it. It took a while to do, but now neither of those terms is something I use negatively. I can’t say that I consciously picked words to replace them with, though. Just being thoughtful about what language I used helped me remove those uses from my day to day life and the rest of language came in to fill the void more or less on its own.

mrmacduggan,

I’ve been using directly negative adjectives like “bad” or “unsatisfying.”

YourHeroes4Ghosts,
@YourHeroes4Ghosts@beehaw.org avatar

I’m really pleased to see people thinking about ableism and ableist language. It’s so easy to just say what you’ve always said without thought and I appreciate anyone who stops to think about it.

“Duh” is the word I’m personally trying to remove from my vocabulary. As I have ADHD and am forever losing or misplacing things, it pops out of my mouth automatically far too often. I only began thinking about it recently, and as I have a couple of neurology-based disabilities it really is not ideal for me to say something that’s insulting to people who are like me- by saying it, I’m putting myself down (internalised ableism) too!

“Lame” is tough because it replaces a whole lot of words. I do understand how difficult it is to replace it. I liked the suggestion of “bogus” (but didn’t want to hijack that person’s comment).

reric88,
@reric88@beehaw.org avatar

Wow bogus was the first thing I thought of before entering the thread lol

furrowsofar,

My problem with lame is that it tends to be a way to cut people down including youself. Pretty much comments involving lame tend to come out as pretty lame most of the time.

Generally be easy on people and hard on problems. Better to be more specific or accurate or say nothing at all.

As for you, stop cutting youself down with value judgements. Instead just say to youself … an opportunity for improvement. And be more specific about your concrete action plan.

By the way, the word “weak” has the same issues.

Lettuceeatlettuce,

Depends on what you’re trying to express.

Lame could mean, boring, pathetic, underwhelming, dissapointing, etc.

“That concert last night was so lame.” (Dissapointing, boring, underwhelming)

“My friend is so lame to roadtrip with.” (Boring, annoying)

“The warranty my TV came with is super lame.” (Pathetic, overpriced)

“Flag day is the lamest federal holiday” (most ridiculous)

Rozauhtuno,
@Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The point is the word ‘lame’ was originally ableist, though people don’t really use it that way anymore.

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lame

effingnerd,

Coming up with an alternative to the word “lame” seems like the wrong way go about this. To you, a lame thing is a thing you don’t like. That’s what it means to me, I’d wager that’s what it means to a lot of people. Saying it is a knee-jerk reaction. Any word you pick to replace it will have the same negative connotation. Instead of picking a short word to use to describe a thing you don’t like, stop and think about why you don’t like the thing and use that reason as your statement of disapproval. Or, if you’re just saying you don’t like a thing, maybe that sentiment doesn’t need to be expressed.

Rozauhtuno,
@Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The point is the word ‘lame’ was originally ableist and using it makes op uncomfortable, even if the meaning changed with time.

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lame

effingnerd,

Yes, I know. I’m not a nimrod.

They were asking for alternatives and I provided one.

jarfil,

if you’re just saying you don’t like a thing, maybe that sentiment doesn’t need to be expressed.

That sounds like a way to become a double-plus-good citizen. Disapproval and dissent are essential parts of social communication, which doesn’t always allow to explain yourself in detail.

Limeade,

Perhaps lousy might be a suitable replacement?

fracture,

i’m also interested in this. particularly within gaming, lame has a specific connotation of referring to “anti-fun” strategies in a derogatory way that’s hard to replace (things like camping, cheap strats, spamming, etc). but, for similar reasons as to what you’ve outlined, i’d like to substitute it

but otoh i wonder if we’re kind of settling on what language is acceptable for derogatory use and what isn’t. the r word is not okay, but dumb/stupid is, even though they’re technically the same origin. perhaps lame falls into the same category? i haven’t seen anyone overly upset over it’s use, anyways

liv,

things like camping, cheap strats, spamming, etc

So 100 years ago that behaviour would be termed “boorish”.

ArtZuron,
@ArtZuron@beehaw.org avatar

Moron, imbecile, and dullard came out of eugenics IIRC. Does “lame” have that origin too?

I’ve heard it used to refer to injured or weakened legs, as well as the creature they’re attached to. As in, “the cow was lame because of its injured hoof.” I’ve heard it used to refer to something that is boring or disappointing. “That movie was lame.” or “That was lame.”

I wouldn’t doubt that there is some negative connotation for it though. Terrible people tend to take innocuous words and twist them to suit their schemes.

jarfil,

Moron, imbecile, and dullard came out of eugenics IIRC

They were used in law texts before the eugenics movement… people were just fine with dehumanizing language back then.

ArtZuron,
@ArtZuron@beehaw.org avatar

The same people that pushed the Eugenics movement were probably the same people that got those into the law texts however.

jarfil,

Kind of.Plato in 400BC already proposed breeding out the “weak”, so it’s not like the idea of eugenics is particularly new. The word “moron” was created in the 20th century as a “scientific” word… by one of the main proponents of the modern eugenics movement, which started in the 19th century, with no prior use, so yeah, that one is definitely burned. “Dullard” comes from 10th century English, already with a derogatory meaning, but it seems like English preferred using “lunatic”, “mad” or “insane” in its legal wording. “Idiot” comes from ancient Greek meaning “layman”, “ignorant”, later “illiterate”, and only in the 14th centuries it came to mean “stupid” or “mentally deficient”, and then it went on to differentiate the “mentally deficient” from the “lunatics” (mentally ill). “Imbecile” is more interesting, it seems to stem from the Latin “in-bacillus” or “without little staff”… which has gone through the meanings of “weak”, “cowardly”, “impotent”… and knowing Romans and their insults, is likely to have started as just “dickless”, which is kind of mild for the period. There is however some 17th century legal stuff where women got considered as invalid witnesses “because of imbecility and sexual frailty”, which seems to be about when the word took its modern meaning. Overall, the Eugenics movement seems to have mostly used words that were already established for centuries, just pushed them a few steps farther.

ArtZuron,
@ArtZuron@beehaw.org avatar

Reminds me of “Hysteria” which was effectively just the medical excuse to penalize women for getting “uppity.” Nowadays, there’s even one that the police have been using recently called “excited delirium” or something, which is what they try to compel coroners to use when they kill someone through unreasonable levels of force when those people fight for their lives.

jarfil,

The story of “hysteria” starts at around 2000BC, in ancient Egypt, when they thought the uterus was a sort of “animal” that could wander around the body. At least it had an easy symptomatic solution, not exactly a penalty for the women reaching “paroxysmal convulsions”, and it devolved into the invention of the vibrator, with its cheap hand-cranked version, and poor Hitachi unable to separate its brand from the wand no matter how much they try. With a sad irony, it did play a role in the eugenics… hysteria? of the 19th-20th centuries. The film by the same name, may have painted a slightly different picture.

I didn’t know of “excited delirium”, and apparently the term has been withdrawn, it’s “hyperactive delirium syndrome” starting this year… remains to be seen whether it keeps targeting tased black males in restraints (damn, the US has a big problem).

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