MOG

I guess it depends on your definition of a spaz. If you are familiar with Andy Dick's portrayal of Matthew Brock on the show Newsradio, that could have been based on my life.

If you can accept that as an answer, then you can be my friend.

And Max - That video is great! Who is the artist? I'm going to adopt the term "Spasticus Autisticus" into my regular vocabulary.

Hm. Was it Mark Twain who said England and America are divided by a common language? Maybe some nuances don't travel and don't matter. In olden days people with cerebral palsy were known as spastics and were kept indoors because other people found them upsetting. (Spaz being a derogatory derivation and someone with cerebral palsy would take it as an insult. I was a teenager once. I don't pretend I never did it myself. Then one day I got one of my own.) Ian Dury in the video had polio (I think) as a child. But he was also a geezer. He was playing on the London pub rock circuit round about the same time as the Clash (when they were called the 101ers). I think he probably became more famous and made more money than the Clash, but maybe he wasn't very transatlantic.
The song is an in your face challenge to popular prejudice against disabled people.
In my part of the world, Bill would be referred to as a knob head for calling his geek colleague a spaz. If you let other people define you that way, you would be referred to as a 'victim'.
I'm not perfect: don't get me started on the parents of autistic children ...

btw, there's nothing wrong with a bit of geek-pride. Get yourself over to slashdot.org if you need training materials
rant over now. :-)

Sorry about the flame, man. You probably need a disabled child to get it. You have good music.

No worries Max - I'm sorry to have offended you.

Saw something on Family Guy last night that made me realise there was a bit of a cultural difference thing too. :-) We Europeans are just sensitive.