16 Things Georgia Boomers Say Without Realizing They’re Offensive Nowadays

Words change meaning over time, but the shift is easy to miss when you’ve used them all your life.

Many Georgians grew up with sayings that dictionaries and style guides now flag as outdated or hurtful.

These are the familiar words and phrases that have fallen out of favor, and why.

1. Insane Asylum

If “insane asylum” is a phrase you grew up with, Merriam-Webster labels it “now usually offensive.”

The National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) style guide says hospitals of that kind were once commonly called insane asylums.

The term is now considered objectionable and inaccurate, and “psychiatric hospital” or “behavioral health hospital” is preferred.

Georgia’s state asylum in Milledgeville admitted its first patient in 1842, five years after lawmakers passed the bill creating it, the New Georgia Encyclopedia says.

The name became Georgia State Sanitarium in 1898 and Milledgeville State Hospital in 1929.

2. Hillbilly

Call a neighbor a “hillbilly,” and you’re using a word Merriam-Webster labels “often disparaging + offensive.”

The word dates to 1880.

Ralph Peer of OKeh Records traveled to Atlanta in June 1923, the Country Music Hall of Fame says.

He always claimed to have supplied country music with “hillbilly,” the genre’s name until after World War II.

3. Using “Negro”

You may have heard “Negro” growing up, but Merriam-Webster gives it the label “dated, often offensive.”

The word began to fall out of favor in the 1960s, and by the 1980s, “Black” had largely replaced it in nonhistorical contexts.

That shift is decades old.

4. Deaf and Dumb

Does “deaf and dumb” sound familiar?

The NCDJ guide says to avoid the phrase because it’s often used inaccurately and can be offensive.

“Dumb” was once widely used for a person who couldn’t speak, though a person who doesn’t use speech may still be able to hear.

Merriam-Webster calls the related term “deaf-mute” offensive for implying that deaf people can’t communicate.

The guide says “deaf” or “hard of hearing” is acceptable, and if you can, ask the person which one they prefer.

5. Powwow

Among Indigenous peoples of North America, a powwow is a social gathering or fair, typically with dancing, Merriam-Webster says.

If you’ve put a “powwow” on your calendar, that sense of the word is labeled “informal + offensive.”

Its usage note calls this use an offensive appropriation of a term of great cultural importance to Indigenous Americans.

A plain “meeting” works.

6. Uppity

Call someone “uppity,” and you may be using a word whose second sense Merriam-Webster labels “somewhat old-fashioned, disparaging + sometimes offensive.”

The word has a long history of being applied to members of racial minorities, and especially to Black people.

Use it about a member of a racial minority, and it’s likely to be considered especially offensive.

The other sense, arrogant or presumptuous, is no more offensive than those synonyms.

Use “presumptuous” for that.

7. Homosexual

You may have learned “homosexual” as the polite word, but GLAAD, a media advocacy group, calls it an outdated clinical term considered derogatory and offensive.

Merriam-Webster says the noun “homosexual” has seen a decrease in use in published, edited text since the mid-1990s and marks it “now often disparaging + offensive.”

The word can be seen as evoking negative stereotypes and outdated clinical understandings.

Say “gay” or “lesbian.”

If you’re not sure how someone describes themselves, ask.

8. Holy Roller

You might picture a “Holy Roller” as a certain kind of churchgoer, but Merriam-Webster labels the phrase “old-fashioned + often offensive.”

The phrase refers to members of certain Protestant groups known for spontaneous, emotional worship.

Describing a friend’s church?

Name the denomination.

The phrase dates to 1841.

9. Saying “Colored”

If “colored” sounds like a polite word from your childhood, the dictionary labels the racial sense “dated, usually offensive.”

The word was in common and widespread use well into the 20th century.

“Black” is among the preferred terms.

You’ll still spot the old word in some organization names.

10. Indian Giver

If you’ve used “Indian giver,” Merriam-Webster labels the phrase “dated, offensive.”

The phrase means a person who gives something and then takes it back or expects an equivalent in return.

It dates to 1838.

Tell your story with the facts instead, such as who gave what and who took it back.

11. Crazy, Nuts and Loony

You might toss around “crazy,” “nuts” and “loony,” but NCDJ’s guide says people once commonly used those words to describe people with mental illness and now consider them offensive.

Skip them, particularly when reporting on mental illness.

Say what happened.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s stigma-free language guidance says not to use words like “crazy” and “insane.”

12. “Gyp” as a Verb

Tell a story about being cheated, and you may reach for “gyp,” which Merriam-Webster labels “informal + offensive.”

The verb is probably short for “gypsy.”

Some Roma still use “Gypsy” as a neutral or positive self-descriptor, but its use by others evokes negative stereotypes.

The cheating and swindling senses of “gyp” are widely regarded as offensive because of that association.

Dictionary.com adds that many people are unfamiliar with the word’s origin, so it’s still in use.

Say “cheated” instead.

13. Using “Eskimo”

If you grew up with Eskimo Pie, Dreyer’s announced in June 2020 that it would drop the brand name and recognized the term is derogatory.

The dictionary labels “Eskimo” “often offensive” and says people outside Indigenous communities imposed the word on Indigenous peoples.

Not all the Indigenous people referred to as Eskimos are Inuit.

In Canada, the word has long been considered one to avoid, since Indigenous people there refer to themselves as Inuit.

When you know which people you mean, use the name they use for themselves.

14. Calling Someone “Invalid”

If “invalid” is a word you use for a person, NCDJ’s guide says people now widely view it as offensive because it implies a person lacks abilities.

Except in a direct quote, avoid the word for a person with a disability.

Name the condition.

15. Papoose

You may have heard an Indigenous baby called a “papoose,” a word Merriam-Webster labels “dated, offensive.”

The entry traces it to a Narragansett word and dates it to 1634.

The usage note cites a history of generalized use that negates distinctions between Indigenous peoples, along with its appearance in historical documentation of genocide.

“Baby” works.

16. Tar Baby

Have you ever called a tough spot a “tar baby,” a phrase Merriam-Webster labels “sometimes offensive”?

The phrase means something nearly impossible to get out of.

Joel Chandler Harris, an associate editor at the Atlanta Constitution, published his first Uncle Remus collection in 1880, the New Georgia Encyclopedia says.

Harris read an article on Black folklore that included a transcribed “Buh Rabbit and the Tar Baby” story.

Newspapers around the country eagerly reprinted his sayings, and Mark Twain said the tar baby story was always one of his most popular stage readings.

Try “sticky situation.”

Other Names Under Review

In 2020, the Houston Association of Realtors replaced “master bedroom” with “primary bedroom” in its listing database, ABC News reported.

The association’s agents won’t be fined or banned for using the old terms.

PulteGroup, an Atlanta-based homebuilder, said in 2020 that it had phased out “master bedroom” several years earlier.

In 2022, the Entomological Society of America renamed the “gypsy moth” the “spongy moth,” saying the old name used a derogatory term for the Romani people.

If “off the reservation” is a phrase you use, National Public Radio’s Code Switch reported in a 2014 piece that some Native people dislike it.