Spastic
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The term spastic has three meanings in the English language:
- An adjective meaning "suffering from spasticity", which is a type of cerebral palsy where the sufferer has spasms. It is derived from the Ancient Greek verb root spas- = "pull".
- A sufferer from spasticity. As a result of the next listed usage, this usage has become offensive.
- A term of abuse, e.g. you're such a spastic (also abbreviated to "spaz and "spack").
It became popular after appearances by cerebral palsy sufferer Joey Deacon on children's television programme Blue Peter in 1981.
In the mid-1980s, some sufferers of Cerebral Palsy attempted to 'take back' the term. This is the meaning in the Ian Dury and the Blockheads song: "Spasticus Autisticus", and it is also used in the Ben Elton book Gridlock.
The Spastics Society, a UK charity for sufferers of cerebral palsy, is now named SCOPE.
Russian names such as Spasskiy are not related to spasm, but come from a Russian verb root spas- = "save" used to refer to the Saviour.