Why is the terminology 'little people' less demeaning than the words it replaces?

Question

I've often wondered about this. I believe very strongly in the significance of terminology and in avoiding epithets.

I can understand that the words 'midget' and 'dwarf' can be derogatory and demeaning and should be avoided.

But why is 'little people' more acceptable? It feels demeaning to me...

Answer 1

Midget and dwarf makes them sound like they are monsters. Little people sounds cute although I prefer the term "vertically challenged"

Answer 2

My wife is short (4' 10") and she hates the term "little people."

Why is it okay to give short people funny names but we can't call obese people "fat" or "chubby"?

Answer 3

I don't know either, but perhaps the original words carried a lot of baggage for those who were described by the terms.

I've wondered why people of African heritage keep changing how they prefer being referred to.  Not being a person of color, I'll call people whatever they want, it makes no difference to me.  But I do wonder.

Answer 4

My problem is when I see one, I start singing "It's a small world after all"

Answer 5

It will be demeaning one day. We keep coming up with politically correct words that will just twisted into insults by the next generation of children. Years ago "idiot" was the scientific term for a person of low IQ. Then people started using it as an insult, so we started calling them "retarded." Then that became an insult so we began calling them "mentally challenged." That also became an insult so now its "developmentally disabled." One day we'll all be describing people with sentence long terms to avoid words that can be insulting.

New term:

"Person of short stature due to inherited genetic trait."

Answer 6

If you are referring to a dwarf or midget I can't see that that is derogatory, but, if you are being insulting to a small person then yes it is.

Answer 7

People react to terms like "midget", "dwarf" or "little person" differently. The largest association for people of this height is still The Little People Of America and they seem to think it is (presently) the best term.

Please remember that decades ago calling someone a "negro" was the norm, then "colored", then "black" now the term "African American" seems to be the politically correct term.

As a L*****n I don't care if a friend jokingly calls me a "d**e" and recently a friend made me laugh hysterically by saying "Hidey Ho l***o!".