Language: spotted on Tumblr

[sasha_feather]

I'm actually not sure how to link to things on Tumblr (LOL) so I'm just going to quote the entire post from UnF*ck Your Habitat that I saw Today while backreading my dash:

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Just a reminder:
OCD is something one has, not something one “is,” and most people who say, “I’m so OCD” do not have OCD and could use a thesaurus and some sensitivity training.

Here at UfYH HQ, we don’t use “OCD” as shorthand or a humorous description for personality quirks or behaviors. It’s a legitimate medical condition. Words are important, and there are better ways to get your point across without trivializing someone else’s health issue. Some potential alternatives:

Extremely particular
Attentive to cleanliness
Hates when things are dirty
Excessively tidy
Fastidious
Exceptionally neat
Predisposed to cleanliness
P.S. OCD doesn’t always (or even usually) mean that someone is extremely clean or organized.

Tag: It's not about being politically correct it's about not being a jerk

Comments

[aethel]

if you're looking at your dash, you can hover your mouse over the top right hand corner of the post until it folds over and click on that to get to the post URL.

[sasha_feather]

Thank you. That is... almost unbelievably non-intuitive.

[aethel]

I think someone had to tell me that, too.

[rhivolution]

Thank you for this--and I'm so glad UfYH have said as much publicly because it's something that I find really important.

[jesse_the_k]

This made me breathe a little easier and relax my shoulders too. It's ridic how much fury I carry around in my body, so thanks so much for sharing the chillaxation.

[sasha_feather]

<3

[chordatesrock]

The last time I tried to correct someone for saying "I'm so OCD" I found out that the person saying it had been diagnosed with OCD. Oops!

[sasha_feather]

Oops indeed!

May I suggest this response instead? When someone says "I'm so OCD" say, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear you have OCD," or something that assumes the diagnosis. Then if they don't have it, maybe they will have the good grace to be embarrassed.

[chordatesrock]

That's a possibility. I would think that someone introducing it in such an offhand way might be hoping to avoid "I'm so sorry you have That Terrible Condition" without having to keep it secret. I didn't ask about motivation when I had that conversation, but it's what I would do.

Hard to balance making people with OCD feel comfortable with improving CND people's attitudes. It's a lot of weight for a single-sentence response to carry. Maybe too much.

[slhuang]

That's a good suggestion! When I first read your post I frowned, because pretty much all the people I know who say this sort of thing mean it absolutely literally, and are just being a little lighthearted about their OCD. I actually had no idea people use it as slang for "detail-oriented" when they don't have OCD themselves...and I agree that's a bad thing, but I would have no idea when someone *isn't* using it literally, so, good call. Thanks!

(I know this was posted a while ago, I just found the comm :) )

[shehasathree]

I can't imagine anyone I know using "I am OCD" as slang to mean 'detail oriented' etc. To me it sounds American.