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Spaz vs Spad - What's the difference?

spaz | spad |

As verbs the difference between spaz and spad

is that spaz is (slang|pejorative|offensive) to have a tantrum or fit while spad is .

As a noun spaz

is (slang|pejorative|offensive) a stupid person.

As an adjective spad is

thin, tiny, young.

spaz

English

Alternative forms

* spazz

Noun

(spazzes)
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) A stupid person.
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) A hyperactive person.
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) An incompetent person.
  • * (Tiger Woods), 2006
  • “I was so in control from tee to green, the best I’ve played for years… But as soon as I got on the green I was a spaz .”
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) A tantrum, a fit.
  • Usage notes

    (Spastic) In addition to being insulting to the target, the term itself is offensive to some due to associations with disability (especially cerebral palsy in the UK); compare (retard), (tard). Offensiveness differs between the UK and the US: it is quite offensive in the UK, while completely inoffensive in the US, acting as a synonym for silly/hyper. It is most widely used as a playground term of abuse, both of people with disabilities and children generally. Among adults, particularly in the United States, it can be seen as gentle ribbing or self-deprecation, as in the Tiger Woods quote, but can cause offense, and is recommended against in public. The s-word, by Damon Rose, BBC News, 12 April 2006

    See also

    * (l) * (l)

    Verb

  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) To have a tantrum or fit.
  • (slang, offensive) To malfunction, go on the fritz.
  • Usage notes

    The sense “to malfunction” is the only sense that is not insulting to the object, and is cognate to (spasm) (compare (seize up)), but still may cause offense due to connections with (spastic).

    References

    Anagrams

    *

    spad

    English

    Alternative forms

    * SpAd

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A government adviser, often in a political or media role.
  • * 2009 , Ben Wright, Hidden world of the political advisers, BBC:
  • A successful stint as a spad can be a crucial political apprenticeship - as many of the current crop of professional politicians including the Miliband brothers, David Cameron and George Osborne can testify - so long as they stay in the dark.
  • * 2012 , Avoid The Thick of It-style spad appointments, ministers told, The Guardian :
  • The hit BBC sitcom satirising the inner workings of Whitehall and the so-called spads contains "more than a grain of truth", the head of the cross-party public administration select committee has warned.