Category: Let's talk
Hello,
I first heard the word used about fifteen years ago. A blind guy joking called me a fuckin' blink. Naturally I had to ask, so he said the term 'blink' was an outdated n-word type term used in contempt of blind people.
Anyway never seen a sighted person use it, and, me being the geek that I am I recently went on Wikipedia / Google on a hunt to find this out. Came up empty. So, my question is, where did it come from?
And, it can't be from any recent television shows or 'Blink182' as cool as that particular band is. They have nothing to do with being blind.
I admit that since I've been on here I've kinda adopted that term the way us straight guys may call ourselves breeders.
If anyone knows I'd be curious to find out. For one thing, it's not a typical 'Joking relationship" as anthropologists call it, as sighted people don't even use it at all.
It's probably something from the "blind community", to which I don't belong.
Hmm. I've never heard of it, although I'm sure it goes around.
You might find it somewhere if you look.
I've heard the term, and it's annoying as hell. I have no idea where it originated, but I only hear it said by other blind people. I refuse to use it.
I have to agree with SisterDawn. the term itself sounds unbelievably moronic to me. I don't get why some people use it. Maybe they think it doesn't sound stupid or retarded...If anyone called me that and I was within sight of them I'd either punch them in the face repeatedly, or pick up whatever object I have near hand and get myself imprisoned for murder.
It doesn't bother me. If someone calls me a blink in the hopes of upsetting me, they're in for quite a disappointment. It's just a short word that incumpases totally blind, low parcial, high parcial, visually impaired, sightless, optically chalenged and so on. I've seen people have huge arguements over this, claiming that those who would dare use the word blink do it to show disrespect. Ironically, you don't usually hear a sighted person using it, so...
I've never heard a sighted person use it at all, and I hope never to hear it.
it's just one of those words that probably was used as an insult to disabled people like gimp or crip.
usually I do not have an issue what my friends call me, because they are not trying to insult me, but i do have a problem with words like this being commonly used because of the simple fact that that's what they are often most used for.
You certainly won't catch me using that term.
there are many they feel good in hurting others.
there are few slang words in my language for blindness and many of my college students used that towards me at the beginning. but after they got to know me better, they themselves yelled at someone who they use against blind persons.
so as per me, only unknowns and illiterates will make use of such words for teasing/hurting. once if they are realising that we are ignoring them, they will shut automatically. rather if we are getting mad at them for those words, they make it as a toy for teasing.
Raaj.
Calm down blinks, its only a word.
When I was at school we were gozzies...which makes even less sense.
When I was at school we were people.
it was used back in the sixties when i attended a school for the blind. it was a stupid degrading term then ant i still hate it today. sorry
Well I asked in order to get me an education on it, and so I did; nobody should feel bad or apologize for how they feel. I heard it in a jocular manner so naturally wasn't hurt by it, but obviously some have been. Good to know.
Grins at Cam. Of course you'd write your post like that. But gozzies? WTF? Blink annoys me, but I can see where it comes from, in that it refers to eyes. But what the heck does gozzie have to do with anything?
and what does it actually mean? wow, that's strange ...
I certainly wouldn't use it, but I won't get bent out of shape if someone calls me that. I'll just walk on. I respect those who are bothered by it, though.
I'm with Sister Dawn on this.
I've never heard of it to be honest, either from v i or sighted people.
I use blink all the time when I'm having a casual conversation. Its just a word, its no more offensive than the word dog. I don't understand what it is that upsets people about a word. If someone calls you a pink, they could mean it evilly, but that doesn't make the word pink an evil word, its just a series of sounds produced by passing air through the vocal system. Don't take yourself, or life, or words, so seriously.
As for where it came from, who knows, the work blink has been used for blind people for a long time. In robin hoood, men in tights, the blind guy was named blinkin'. Oh, and for those who find that insulting, it was still a funny movie, so smile and laugh at yourself.
It's all about the context, like any other controversial term.
This whole thread reminds me...
I was once on a mailing list with a quite chronologically gifted African American male. Someone called someone else, "Boy," on the list. This guy went in to lecture mode, saying that noone should call anyone, "Boy," because that was the term that masters used to use for their slaves back in the days of old. I think that sometimes, a word coined as offensive can eventually lose its offensive connotation over the years, though some will hang on for dear life, remembering what the term used to mean. quite often, no offense is meant, but there seem to be those who delight in finding something at which to be offended.
I've heard it on a few rare occasions but not used by the sighted. Blinknation, of course, used it in it's name. I was actually curious about where the term came from as well. I myself never use it. I certainly wouldn't hurt anyone if they called me a blink. It takes a hell of alot more than that to anger me, but it is rather a strange word. lol gozzies? Uh... What? SilverLightning, I like your views on things! NBut there are a few words which annoy me. And lol about the black man! Some people never learn. Actually, the word Greek used to be offensive and there are those who tolerate it only because it's been used for so long that they figure it's just better to go with the flow.
Y'know, the term doesn't bother me all that much, although like others have said it seems to be a term used only amongst blind people. I think I first saw it in some autobiography of a blind person. That being said, though, I'm not a believer in the "it's just a word" defense either. Words are only mere words if they're isolated away from tone and context. You take any word and ad tone and context to it and the mere word has gained power. Maybe people are offended by the word because they've heard it used in negative contexts or used with a snide or insulting tone or whatever.
Well said, Godzilla. I was thinking the same thing, but wasn't quite sure how to write it. Thanks.
but if that is true, then you are not offended by the word, but the context. If someone overdoses on drugs, people don't blame the needle for giving them too much drugs, they blame the person for dosing it wrong. If a doctor takes out your appendix moments before it bursts and kills you, you don't thank the scalpel, you thank the doctor.
Words are just tools, there is absolutely nothing about a word to make it offensive. At one time in history, the word shit was a shipping acronym. It stood for ship high in transit. It was written on the packaging for manure and fertilizers because if they got wet, they could release gases that would make ships explode. it was offensive at all. Cock is a rooster, pussy a cat, damn is to curse someone, a bitch is a female dog, a basterd is a fatherless child, a whore is a prostitute. All these words are simply words that you think offensive, because of how you view them. If I use them offensively, its my fault, not the words.
Thus, if someone calls you a blink, get mad at them because they insulted you, not because they called you a blink. And by that logic, you'd have to beat their face in if they called you a rat, a cock, a pussy, a cucumber, or any one of the hundreds of thousands of words, because they can all be used offensively.
If that wasn't one of the best posts on here, I don't know what is. Thank you.
well boys and girls back in the 80's in the days of the modem and the bbs. Hopefully someone on here remembers what a bbs was. there was a messaging service or network called fidoNet there is another term many of you will have to look up.
anyway back then was a blindness group that you could read and post messages to called blinkTalk. that was the first time I ever saw the term used. I thought it may have come from that but now that someone else herd it used back in the 60's I'm not so sure.
SilverLightning, may I save your post and possibly repost it, with credit to you, of course? It was so beautiful and explained things in a way that I could never do. Plus, it taught me alot. *smile* And while I haven't used a bbs, being that I was born in 1983, I do know about them and have heard of fidonet. I found a site for their modern users. Yes, they still exist. *smile*
http://www.bbscorner.com/about/
Sorry, couldn't resist. Now back to blinks.
I really never heard that term used. Blink? Sounds strange to me.
It's a reference to blind folks rapid blinking. Quite a literal usage no? I grew up with the phraise blind girl being a derogatory dig at me. When you are one and they legion you start hating to hear "you know Tiffany the blind girl. Usually it was just blind girl though. I think it's funny now though and use it in reference to explain processes or attitudes that sighted folks may not understand. I still remember reading posts from the old alt servers. I was utterly fascinated when our fifth grade class got a modem and connected with another fifth frade class in tennisee. I wonder what innocent sounding words will be offensive in fifty years? Yes, context is important. It makes internet exchanges dicy because you can't hear tone or read facial expressions. Tiffany