Update "M" Word

Midget
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Midget is a term used to describe an exceptionally short person. The terms "midget" and "dwarf" are often used synonymously, as both terms mean someone who has been short in stature since birth, but those terms were not originally synonyms.

In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, midget was a medical term referring to an extremely short but normally proportioned person, and was used in contrast to dwarf, which denoted disproportionate shortness. Like many other older medical terms, as it became part of popular language, it was often used in a pejorative sense. When applied to a person who is very short, midget is now often considered offensive, an example of the euphemism treadmill.[1]

Unusual shortness of stature is caused by an inherited gene and can be diagnosed at birth by several telltale signs or later when the child is a toddler. The word dwarf has generally replaced midget even for proportionally short people (proportionally short people were originally called midgets), though the term little person is preferred. According to the Little People of America, dwarfism is "a medical or genetic condition that usually results in an adult height of 4 [feet] 10 [inches] [(147 cm)] or shorter, among both men and women, although in some cases a person with a dwarfing condition may be slightly taller than that."[2]

Modern terminology now distinguishes between the two types of dwarfism using the terms proportionate dwarfism, such as primordial dwarfism, and disproportionate dwarfism, such as achondroplasia. Proportionate dwarfism is often the result of a hormonal deficiency (such as growth hormone deficiency), and it may be treated medically.

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Merriam-Webster, 1961) defines "midget" in the noun form as "a very diminutive person", and in the adjective form as "like a midget in size; very diminutive", hence its usage as a synonym for "miniature", as with cars.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the term "midget" comes from "midge", meaning a sand fly, and the suffix "-et", meaning little or small.[3]

More to come....

The M word

Welcome to my exploration of the "M" word, also known as midget. I will explore it’s use in today’s language and the usage to describe humans, objects, thoughts or anything I can find in the vast world of the Internet.

People who are diagnosed with dwarfism, the word "midget" can be demeaning and negative. It brings negative connotations about people who have restricted growth or are shorter than the norm…usually people under 4’10”. Some dwarfs or little people say it's as bad as the "N word", which is used to describe some one who is African American in a negative way.

I want to find fascinating facts about the "M word", I will post my findings here. Oh, by the way, I'm Arturo Gil, an actor for more than 20 years and I have been diagnosed with dwarfism. I am three and a half feet tall. Being in show business, I have done many tv shows and films where "midget" was used. Recently, the use of the "M word" is being discouraged in these productions. Although, it is still being used as comedic term.

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The following article is used with permission from www.takeourword.com

From David Bradford:

I'm a dwarf and a member of the Little People of America, a non-profit organization that supports people of short stature. I'm curious to know more about the origin and early usage of the word midget. Webster's Online identifies it as originating from the word midge, and first used in 1865. But who first coined the term, and why?

I'm curious because most dwarfs consider the use of the word midget in describing a little person to be highly offensive, much as is calling a person of African descent n*gger. Yet, while any dictionary will start off identifying the word n*gger as "usually offensive", few do so for the word midget (including Webster's Online). I was wondering how words such as this come to be officially classified as offensive, and/or who sets the standard on what is and is not offensive? Thanks, and great site. I love it!

Take Our World replies:

Let's start with midget. It was formed, as you suggest, from the word midge "small fly" + -et, so that a midget is etymologically a "very small small fly". We first find midget in 1848 in Canada with the meaning "sand fly". Where does the word midge come from? In Old English it was mycg, and it goes back to an Indo-European root, *mu-, which also gave us mosquito and, by a circuitous route, musket. The Indo-European form is thought to be imitative of the humming sound made by such insects. By 1865, midget was being used to describe a very small person. By 1884 it referred to small people who were exhibited in shows or circuses. By 1930 we find the word being used for small vehicles or aircraft.

Now to the offensive nature of the word: the OED does not list the word as offensive. However, others do, for example, the Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary says, "OFFENSIVE TERM" (yes, in upper case) before even listing the definition. How does a dictionary decide to label a word as "offensive"? If the word is universally considered offensive or taboo, it is labeled as such. If there are exceptions, or if it is not universally considered offensive, it will be labeled with something like "often considered offensive". Perhaps midget is not labeled thus because it does have what most consider an inoffensive use: for small items (versus people). Who sets the standard for offensiveness? The groups to whom the word is applied, of course, or hypersensitive, politically correct people outside those groups. Why doesn't the OED consider it offensive? Perhaps the next edition will label midget as offensive. It's only fairly recently (within the last 20 years or so?) that awareness about the offensive nature of the term has become widespread.

We should also discuss dwarf while we're here. It's of Germanic ancestry, coming ultimately from the proto-Germanic root *dhwergwhos "tiny". In Old English it was dweorg and meant "person of abnormally small stature". That remained the only meaning until the late 18th century, when, with the influence of German mythology, dwarf came also to mean "small, manlike creature that lives underground and works metal". The modern German form is zwerg, which, John Ayto suggests, gave English the word quartz. Other etymologists do not seem to agree and feel that the word quartz entered German from a Slavic source.

You didn't think we'd escape without discussing musket further, did you? It derives from Italian moschetto, which means "sparrowhawk", but which literally means "little fly". There are at least two explanations for why the firearm was so named. One source suggests that moschetto was the darkly humorous name of the bolt of a crossbow, and that was then applied to the firearm. Another source suggests that the firearm was named directly after the sparrowhawk, as other firearms were named after birds of prey.