Shed electrics
- Thread starter arb1
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I know it was not in the fine upstanding Henry Goddard's cline but it is probably safe to say that in popular use it was lumped together with idiot, imbecile and moron.
I worded my statement very badly ....
As you say, idiot, imbecile and moron were simply three bands of ('sub-normal') IQs, per the classification introduced by Goddard, so I suppose it is not surprising that all the words came to be used as terms of abuse, based on all of them relating to various degrees of 'sub-normal' intelligence or mental ability.
Cretinism (congenital hypothyroidism), as we used to call it, is just one of a myriad of disorders whose manifestations may include mental impairment. What I intended to write (but failed miserably!) was that I have no idea why sufferers from cretinism (i.e. 'cretins') were 'singled out' from all the other 'possibles' to be used as a term of abuse.
Kind Regards, John
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Which possibles (that we might have heard of) have not been so singled out?
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