Please stop calling people “a cancer”

[temery]

I’m tired of seeing people here refer to someone as a cancer.

Cancer is cancer, nothing else is even close. 100k people a month visit this site. Statistically, 5,000 visitors currently have cancer (5% of the US population). Add friends and family, and >20k here know what cancer does to a family.

I’m a cancer survivor, but my parents, three grandparents, an aunt, four uncles, and three cousins, weren’t as lucky. As a teacher I had a dozen students, and a couple dozen parents of students die of cancer.

It’s a horrible disease, and it’s sickening to see coaches and players refered to as “a cancer.” Most people who do so mean nothing by it, but it needs to stop.

 

[UcMiami]

There are a number of these types of derogatory terms that really bother me, many 'political' so I will not go there. But thanks for pointing it out. I find out in a month if I will join you on the right side of that equation.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I guess I'm avoiding the "right" threads, 'cuz I'm not noticing this much. Frankly, good as a thread is, when I see two or three posters start to get personal I just check out and don't return.

 

[bags27]

There are a number of these types of derogatory terms that really bother me, many 'political' so I will not go there. But thanks for pointing it out. I find out in a month if I will join you on the right side of that equation.

Very best wishes, UcMiami, for an excellent prognosis. I'm a cancer survivor (so far), as I'm sure so are a lot on this board, as temery estimates.

Much as we're all very sensitive to the horrors of the disease(s) by that name and how painful it is to hear the word in a non-medical way, cancer as a metaphor is recognized as standard English usage. Among similarly inappropriate phrases, we might also say that someone has "gone nuclear." I'm sure that those who've suffered the effects of nuclear radiation (especially Japanese) don't appreciate that metaphor, which, in fact is slang and not as acceptable as cancer in standard English. Language can cause pain.

 

[Patrick Lilly]

I’m tired of seeing people here refer to someone as a cancer.

Cancer is cancer, nothing else is even close. 100k people a month visit this site. Statistically, 5,000 visitors currently have cancer (5% of the US population). Add friends and family, and >20k here know what cancer does to a family.

I’m a cancer survivor, but my parents, three grandparents, an aunt, four uncles, and three cousins, weren’t as lucky. As a teacher I had a dozen students, and a couple dozen parents of students die of cancer.

It’s a horrible disease, and it’s sickening to see coaches and players refered to as “a cancer.” Most people who do so mean nothing by it, but it needs to stop.

Hi Temery, thank you for your post and I am also thankful you are a cancer survivor. I believe there are four of five definitions of the word cancer of which one is: a practice or phenomenon perceived to be evil or destructive and hard to contain or eradicate as in "racism is a cancer sweeping across Europe". I suspect that is the definition people are using when they say "X" is cancerous on their team. I remember the first time I saw the word catholic being used as an adjective I was very confused, not knowing it meant universal. Patrick

 

[CMC'72]

I'm not noticing this much

I have never seen this happen. Thought maybe posts were deleted before I saw them. Maybe not.

 

[Blueconn]

I’m tired of seeing people here refer to someone as a cancer.

Cancer is cancer, nothing else is even close. 100k people a month visit this site. Statistically, 5,000 visitors currently have cancer (5% of the US population). Add friends and family, and >20k here know what cancer does to a family.

I’m a cancer survivor, but my parents, three grandparents, an aunt, four uncles, and three cousins, weren’t as lucky. As a teacher I had a dozen students, and a couple dozen parents of students die of cancer.

It’s a horrible disease, and it’s sickening to see coaches and players refered to as “a cancer.” Most people who do so mean nothing by it, but it needs to stop.

We’ve gotten lazy about choosing the right words or combinations of words. The tech age of communication has lowered standards in a nefarious way...by distorting time. Every interaction has the clock running. We tolerate typos, limited grammar, bad spelling, and if we do speak face-to-face it’s short and so often lacks more than cursory eye contact. Fast. Like our device.

So we sail along and get in the habit of using words very differently than we used to. I’m working from the perspective of the boomer generation. But am guilty. Political correctness is only a small part of the problem...that’s been around forever.

“Cancer” should have two primary uses : the dreaded, stubborn nightmare that one thinks science is close to cornering. Or the word in use in antiquity to do with astrology or, later, alchemy*.

* alchemy- one of the best reads about the secret sciences in search of the alcahest (and more) is Prospero’s America by UConn’s outstanding historian Walter Woodward. A nice intro to Alchemy for know-nothings like myself...but also much more : terrific bio of the founder of New London, vivid 17th century scenes in CT history, and a sweeping last section that may be the best history yet of the still-neglected stories of Connecticut as the place where hanging witches began decades before Salem. John Winthrop, Jr. turns out to be a hero.

 

[HuskyNan]

Tom owns the site. He’s asked people to stop calling players cancers, period, end of discussion.