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What if I were to call a non-mormon who is familiar with the church a Mormon or any other slur, racial or class based invective. What would one imply by calling another "Mormon"?
If one were to insult another by implying that they act as a Mormon...what would that mean?

- One who practices polygamy?
- A goody-goody
- Gullible
- family

Each one of these characteristics are stereotypes the non Mormon associates with Mormonism.

This is a thought experiment, nothing more.

Mercury wrote:What if I were to call a non-mormon who is familiar with the church a Mormon or any other slur, racial or class based invective. What would one imply by calling another "Mormon"?
If one were to insult another by implying that they act as a Mormon...what would that mean?

- One who practices polygamy?
- A goody-goody
- Gullible
- family

Each one of these characteristics are stereotypes the non Mormon associates with Mormonism.

This is a thought experiment, nothing more.

I actually never attributed polygamy as a characteristic when I thought of LDS. Never did. Perhaps I just didn't know enough about Joseph Smith or the history of LDS, but it never was a thought for me.

I did think goody-goody which was juxtaposed against a hellion I knew when I was a teenager. So, my thought always was that there was repression from her parents and her wildcat ways that were even a bit much for me. :)

The only thing I knew about LDS is that they had dances (went to one with my friend), didn't like some pop-culture, they didn't drink coffee or smoke, that they believed in prophets, and that there was a great deal of charitable works that they were involved in.

Anyway, I try not to use the term "Mormon" because apparently LDS don't like that term. Sometimes I do when I'm not thinking about what my fingers are typing.

Did I miss your point? Probably so. :)

barrelomonkeys wrote:Did I miss your point? Probably so. :)

Nope, fairly close. to call someone a "Mormon" if used as an invective would be very selective I think. Like calling someone Amish or (with apologies to my mom) Jewish.

Many terms have a nasty side to them.

Call someone a Jew, and it's usually a smear about money and greed. Call someone a Greaser and it's a smear against their ethnicity (and by extension, their diet). Call someone a Mormon and in my community, at least, it's an arrogant overachiever with a snotty attitude about how great they are.