Crashed Cajun Nuts

My husband read a recipe aloud because he found the above words in the ingredients list. It made us laugh. We assumed it should say “crushed Cajun nuts”—so crushed spicy nuts. But if it hadn’t been a recipe, would it really be funny? Recently I’ve become aware by several Facebook groups how some of the terms we use jokingly can be offensive to others. They include “nuts,” “crazy,” “psycho,” etc.
 
Robert Spencer said, “’Crazy’ has been a word to portray those who suffer with mental illness as dangerous, weak, unpredictable, unproductive and incapable of rational behavior or relationships.” In his article, “Don’t Call Me Crazy,” he talked about how the definition should be changed. Read more here. And this article, “6 Reasons ‘Crazy’ Is Never A Thing You Should Call Someone – Regardless of Their Behavior” goes into more details why the word shouldn’t be used so casually.
 
Unfortunately, I found 12 instances of the word “crazy” in my novel published in 2016. Only one didn’t refer to what people were feeling, saying, thinking, or doing. Wow!
 
Language is always changing, and it is easy to resist change. But I think as writers we have a responsibility to consider making changes in what we write even when it is fiction. Even when it’s dialogue or thoughts of our characters.
 
Obviously, I doubt any writer is going to know all terms that are offensive to others, but if we don’t have open discussions, we won’t learn them. If you’d like to discuss this or other terms, feel free to do so in comments and I’ll reply.
 

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