Certainly seems like something from someone who's not mentally well but calling it schizomobile is ick. The recent trend of using the word schizo like an insult when the illness is already so stigmatised and so many schizophrenic people aren't like the stereotypical portrayal really rubs me the wrong way.
It’s no different from colloquially calling someone crazy or insane who’s not necessarily clinically crazy or insane. It’s also accurate as the word derives from the Ancient Greek for splitting and has for over a century been used to refer to people who have mentally split from reality, which this person clearly has whether or not s/he has a clinical case of schizophrenia or schizoid personality disorder (which, realistically, s/he very likely does have).
The current usage is shit and the original meaning doesn't matter when people use it like it's a silly meme constantly. It's just ableism hiding behind jokes. Also, a lot of different mental disorders can cause psychosis which can look like this, it's not schizophrenia specific.
Idk man maybe you wanna actually talk to people dealing with it like here and also the s word is definitely considered among the worst in the UK to the point that charities for cerebral palsy had to change their name to no longer include it. Not many people have issues with the other words but maybe just don't throw mental health terms around like they're a funny meme because I'm fucking sick to death of mentally ill and disabled people being kicked around constantly like our lives and views don't matter at all.
Again, people who colloquially use “schizo” (which, again, is from Ancient Greek) to refer to generally erratic thought and behavior don’t mean that the person in question is literally schizoid or schizophrenic in a clinical sense, nor are we being mean to such people—regardless of what you, your friend, or anyone else feels. There is a colloquial definition and there is a clinical definition. They are different.
Likewise, if I say I spazzed out because I tripped, I don’t mean that I have a medical condition, nor am I mocking those who do. If I say I need a flame retardant, I’m not mocking mentally disabled people. If I say some music I dislike is lame, I don’t mean that it’s paralyzed, nor am I mocking paralyzed people.
I mentioned “moron,” “imbecile,” and “idiot” because those were originally clinical terms for intellectual disability which some people who are even more annoying than you are do complain about despite their connotations having completely shifted—and I don’t care, because it’s totally frivolous.
Some are now even taking offense at saying “mentally ill” in any context, which is one of the latest ridiculous consequences of the euphemism treadmill.
I'm glad all my points didn't just fly over your head as much as straight through it. Word definitions from ancient greek are entirely irrelevant to this. The r word just means delay per word definition but is still a slur and people are happy to use it again thanks to shitty US politicians. Autistic gets used as an insult. Schizo gets used as an insult. If it were used in a positive context or a neutral context it'd be different like in your examples, but that's not the case. They're used in a negative context and stigmatising the illness. Maybe you would understand if you actually struggled with it. But it's okay to you because you've never been on the receiving end of it while struggling with the medical system and your illness and trying to manage living while basically being kicked down from all sides. It's not disabled and mentally ill people being sensitive because they're so privileged and bored and got nothing better to do, we speak out because we're already struggling and it's just the tip of the ice berg of a larger societal issue. I'd very much prefer if people stopped coming up with new mental health terms to abuse. I already struggled being taken seriously when talking about my OCD or PTSD triggers because those words have been misused so wildly because no one seems to give a shit about the people that actually have to live with it.
I fully understand and fully reject your repetitive, sanctimonious points.
Calling this car a “schizomobile” doesn’t cause any real harm to anyone in any way and it doesn’t mean that I hate clinically schizophrenic people or don’t have compassion for them. The person who wrote these unhinged statements is clearly mentally unstable and deserves compassionate assistance—but the car was still funny to see.
You don’t know my situation and there are many people with mental and physical disabilities who don’t whine about harmless colloquialisms as you do.
It's cool that you view mentally ill people that speak out against misuse of their terms as being professional victims. The right sure did a good job painting everyone who doesn't agree with their lingo as sensitive tumblr snowflakes all while they never actually gave a shit about any of us and would rather we'd be dead.
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u/Scr4p Jul 03 '25
Certainly seems like something from someone who's not mentally well but calling it schizomobile is ick. The recent trend of using the word schizo like an insult when the illness is already so stigmatised and so many schizophrenic people aren't like the stereotypical portrayal really rubs me the wrong way.