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What's an equivalent replacement for the word "lame"? (beehaw.org)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Maybe use "sucks"? Or "uncool" ("That thing I did was so uncool. It was really sucky.") would probably be my top suggestions.

I have seen signs hung around nearby schools trying to get the word "gay" out of common use to mean the same thing that "lame" is used for, but I don't remember a lot of the things that were on the list. If I find a copy of the sign (or one like it) I'll add it. (ok, that was 5 years ago, so they may not still be used? ... That's naive, even for me.)

As someone else said, though, I think it's used so infrequently to mean "disabled" in modern English, that you probably don't have to worry about it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Also, I like using "weak-sauce" if I have to watch my language - I think I'm too old to use "cringe" as often, unless it's, like, really cringe.

P.s. I'm disabled, walking problems, bad back, one leg a little shorter than the other... I use "lame" to mean shitty/uncouth/sucky/disappointing/boring and don't take offense to it..

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Weak-sauce is the exact essence of what I'm trying to get at, but it's too... Millennial... Like, internally there's no issue with using it, but saying/typing it out to someone older than me feels distinctly cringe (in the lightest sense, though lol just like something you're not supposed to do, you know?)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm a Millennial and "weak sauce" sounds pretty cringe. Or as someone said in this thread, infelicitous. It's very 2010s. It had its time; it's time we moved on from it, collectively lol...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

(I had to check where I fall these days, since I thought of myself as Gen X forever, especially vs Millennial, but I guess I'm a Xennial?)

Anyway, I feel like "cringe" is in this same bucket :-P

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

No cap?

I literally had to look that up in Urban Dictionary when I started hearing that. I think that's a sign haha...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Maybe use “sucks”?

"Sucks" has homophobic/misogynist roots, though, and they're much more recent than the ableist usage of "lame". Even the 1950's version of "sucks eggs" wasn't actually talking about the things that come from a chicken.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah if I say something sucks, I find myself often adding "and not in a good way".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Thanks, I didn't realize that, either. I always thought it literal eggs, or literal lemons, or literal donkey-balls.... (none of which sound pleasant to me)

This whole thread is enlightening to me, so thanks for asking and making your language more inclusive, OP!