How do you feel about the term "Aspie"?

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Always assumed that "Sperg" was the hard G (like give). Its an interesting possible alternative to "aspie".

Ironically the word "German" is pronounced with a soft G, and the soft G is seldom used in the German language.

Dr. Hans Asperger pronounced his German language name with a hard G (like "go" and "give").

So I would have agreed with you that we have to use the hard G pronounciation for that reason- except for one little thing..

The Hard G is the usual way its pronounced in the USA, but both are commonly used in Britain where both are considered acceptable there.

The one little thing that I uncovered that could make the case that the J sound pronunciation is an acceptable Anglelification is this:that "asperger" is actually a word in the English language, and in English its pronounced with the G as J sound. The word "asperger" (pronounced asperjer) means "the person who sprinkles holy water in a Catholic mass".

Dr. Hans may have had an ancestor who was like a choir boy who did the holy water sprinkling honors. So for that reason it could be argued that his name (and the condition named for him) can be Anglecized to asperjers.

However the doctor might have inherited his name from someone who came from the town of Asperg in southern Germany (which is pronounced like "Hamburg" with a hard G). In which case the hard G would be the only acceptable pronounciation.

It all hinges on how the guy's ancestor got his name! Lol!

Never really heard or in all likelihood noticed the term before last November. In general I don't like slang or shortened versions of names/titles: 'aspie' sounds in my head like 'aspis', which is obviously the problem when you've been in love with the over-romanticised story of Cleopatra since childhood.

I like it. It's my preferred word as far as terms for what I am diagnosed with is concerned. Asperger's sounds so dark and serious and I don't like the word autistic or aspergian. I'm fine with the word autism but I'm not really people first, so aspie it is.

I don't mind it. My son, who is also autistic, can't stand it.

You're a classy person, that's for sure.

Thank you, Sir.

It might just seem offense because of the stigma associated with having Aspergers, but personally I like it.

There's a stigma associated with having Asperger's?

Person with Asperger's.

I think Aspie is an okay term. It's easy to say, but random NTs will probably be confused if they hear Aspie instead of Asperger, as it probably isn't a term they'd heard before.

Online, I just use whichever term sounds smoother to me in the sentence.

Last edited by 248RPA on 25 Feb 2017, 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

So uttering seven syllables when you can just say two syllables is NOT "stupid and pointless"?

Thats interesting.

Rather than have a laugh I'll put my opinion about the language in.

Unless it's relevant I don't want to hear it. If it has to come up:

"She has autism", "she is autistic", and "she has Asperger's (syndrome)" are all fine.

"She is a person with Asperger's (syndrome)" and "she is a person with autism" are just long and pointless.

"She is an aspie", "she is an autie", and "she is an autistic" all sound stupid to me.

If I'm talking about a group I'll say "people with autism" or "autistic people", not "aspies", "auties", "autistics".

"Aspie(s)"/"autie(s)" just sound so cringy.

It isn't. Why would anyone need such a term when a perfectly functional description is already in existence?

I don't feel comfortable using any term IRL but aspie and NT work fine for like this site. It's an unfortunate name, can't help but think assburgers or asspies.

Thats exactly the point. There is no alternative to "aspie" that is "functional".

"Person with aspergers" is so long winded and unwieldy that it is obviously anything but "functional".

However you could argue that "person with aspergers" could be turned into the acronym "PWA" that in text (but not in speech) would be as functional as "aspie". Though "PWA" sounds like it came "straight outta Compton"(that you're a rival band to Dre and NWA). Lol!

"He has Asperger's" and "he is an aspie" have the same number of syllables - is that not functional?