I find that most insulting because it assumes any psychiatric diagnosis makes someone dangerous and or unstable.

There's different levels of it...

or criminal.

I've been known to call myself batshit crazy with fair regularity. To me it is more when people discount my reasoning with references to my psychological state, or use it to insulate themselves from criticism. There are phrases that seem to follow along with that attitude that in another context would be quite innocuous. Here's an example right here.

I think the dismissive attitude is much worse than the language used. I wonder how close we are nowadays to the reality that "different" is crazy. You're right. We have to look at it on a case by case basis. We have to look at people, not labels. And we have to listen to those people without the labels we hand them.

These words used against someone is more of what I'm thinking of. I unfriended someone from Facebook from his mocking of me with him saying something to the effect of, "look at me, I'm batshit crazy so other crazy people should have guns too!" He was a definite gun nut. (I don't have a problem with the phrase gun nut obviously.) He even had a gun on his marriage invitations...

Guns on his wedding invitations? He's just an idiot. But truth to tell, although I put little stock in labels "gun nut" has less appeal than "crazy" for me. It seems I'm a "gungeoneer".

That's why labels are so tricky. Language is so plastic most terms get swallowed up in context. Most of the time I call myself "batshit crazy" as a gentle means of warning others that I'm not just exactly who they think I am. And if that makes no sense it's because it only works in context, which is absent here.

I really can't think of any word or label someone might use in reference to me that might hurt me, and not a few that would hurt even if they intended to be so. But I can think of a great many that I don't want to hear if they are intended to be hurtful or dismissive. As a matter of fact, that list is just about as long as the entire dictionary.

For me, context is more important than terminology. And people are more important than context.

It's always been "nuts for guns" in my definition. Like he can't get enough of them. Like he's a hoarder of them... And there's a scary factor to that. Who hoards guns? Yah know?

I hoard books, but at least there's no possibility of accidentally killing anyone with them. Unless a book shelf falls on them, which is unlikely since we nailed it to the wall... One gun is enough. Unless you're Patrick Stewart in the movie Safe House... I guess I'm just wary of people who get excited over a weapon. There has to be more seriousness about safety added to the mix. Not this almost sexual desire for them...

I don't know how many people actually paid attention to my rant, but glad you agree.

Its like funny ha-ha mental health jokes that replace " whaddya retarded ? " everybody is a brilliant diognostition now that they watched 6 seasons of House .

And the, "are you off your meds?" Question goes along the same lines of, "Have you been drinking?" ...

some people are just stupid or terrible or whatever.

I don't connect stupidity with mental illness, but I guess some people do... And I'm not so sure about bimbo, that's more sexist like.

at each other and I'm sure some of it does hurt them. Some of the bullying verbal abuse is about their t.v. concepts of mental health.

Kids say cruel things and now they have more ammunition .

being a miserably stupid and soulless sack of crap is not a mental illness.