spaz
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From spastic.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spæz/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -æz
Noun
spaz (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
The offensiveness of this term and of spastic differs somewhat between the US and the UK. In the UK, it is highly offensive. The term is more commonly used in the U.S., but is still offensive to some in the disability community. See spastic for more.[1][2][3]
Derived terms
Verb
spaz (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
The 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
- (have a tantrum): freak out
Derived terms
Translations
have a tantrum
|
malfunction
References
- Murphy, M Lynne (2007 February 28) “spastic, learning disability”, in Separated by a Common Language, retrieved 2007-08-17
- “BBC worst word vote”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), 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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