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Personally, I think it's fantastic that you're examining your language in this way. It's certainly not ill-mannered, unsolicitous, infelicitous, or untoward of you to do so.

To me, the definition of 'lame' meaning like a lame leg or something is too dated to be the first thing most people think of in most contexts.

I like "bogus" or "whack"

"Cringe" is seemingly used that way in current slang, though with an added layer of thought.

Maybe dull or boring?

I've also stopped using the word 'dumb' when referring to 'stupid'. Nowadays I only use the word dumb for muteness, and I rarely even use that word anymore, mostly mute.

Sounds like folks have given a good number of alternatives, but I just wanted to share a resource: "Ableism/Language" by Lydia X. Z. Brown. It goes through a bunch of ableist words and suggests alternatives. :)

I get the distaste, but language is a fluid thing. Plenty of words we use now do not mean the same thing as when they were first coined. I think Lame is a pretty safe word to use in modern times without people taking it poorly.

If you still have a distaste for it, then replacing it isn't going to be that hard. Lame isn't really part of my general speech, not for any particular reason, it just isn't. I would say something sucks instead. If something doesn't warrant the full suck to you, you could say "that's rough" or something. Lame as a word fits in many situations, but maybe not all of those situations warrant the same word.

When I was a kid, everyone (and I mean everyone) in my age group described things as gay or retarded. Over time I grew out of that language and met people who were genuinely hurt by it enough for me to change it. It took a while to do, but now neither of those terms is something I use negatively. I can't say that I consciously picked words to replace them with, though. Just being thoughtful about what language I used helped me remove those uses from my day to day life and the rest of language came in to fill the void more or less on its own.

Maybe I'm getting too old to understand the lingo, but I thought that's what 'mid' was for? Not good, but not bad enough to warrant a stronger reaction. Just mid.

As someone else here mentioned, language is only one tiny component of ableism. What would be much more impactful is to figure out in what ways you can make the spaces you have control over and inhabit more accessible. Personally, I'd find it much more helpful to do things like not wear heavy perfumes in public, avoid bringing your dog into enclosed spaces where you share air with others, or make sure your clothes aren't covered in cat hair before you leave the house. In my experience, nobody really focuses on air quality or their affect on it, and this would go much further toward making the world a more accommodating place than fretting about a term that's mostly used for horses and bad jokes.

I'm sure there are other things you can do to be accommodating of different disabilities, all of which are probably more worth the thought!

Depends on what you're trying to express.

Lame could mean, boring, pathetic, underwhelming, dissapointing, etc.

"That concert last night was so lame." (Dissapointing, boring, underwhelming)

"My friend is so lame to roadtrip with." (Boring, annoying)

"The warranty my TV came with is super lame." (Pathetic, overpriced)

"Flag day is the lamest federal holiday" (most ridiculous)

Perhaps lousy might be a suitable replacement?

i'm also interested in this. particularly within gaming, lame has a specific connotation of referring to "anti-fun" strategies in a derogatory way that's hard to replace (things like camping, cheap strats, spamming, etc). but, for similar reasons as to what you've outlined, i'd like to substitute it

but otoh i wonder if we're kind of settling on what language is acceptable for derogatory use and what isn't. the r word is not okay, but dumb/stupid is, even though they're technically the same origin. perhaps lame falls into the same category? i haven't seen anyone overly upset over it's use, anyways

Disappointing, lacklustre, underwhelming, missing, sad, less considered.

I think it is good to reflect on the language we use, but also to be forgiving of ourselves if making the improvements we want to implement isn't always totally smooth.

"Weak" or my personal favourite "mediocre" (thanks Immortan Joe).

Also "pathetic" or to channel my inner lemongrab: "unacceptable".

Coming up with an alternative to the word "lame" seems like the wrong way go about this. To you, a lame thing is a thing you don't like. That's what it means to me, I'd wager that's what it means to a lot of people. Saying it is a knee-jerk reaction. Any word you pick to replace it will have the same negative connotation. Instead of picking a short word to use to describe a thing you don't like, stop and think about why you don't like the thing and use that reason as your statement of disapproval. Or, if you're just saying you don't like a thing, maybe that sentiment doesn't need to be expressed.

It's really nice seeing people understanding that reducing the use of a word because of compassion is not a bad thing. Good work on examing your language.

I'd also encourage people to have a look at the words they use to describe erratic or unexplainable things. My partner has mental health issues, and hearing people constantly using "insane" and all of its fellows became really alienating for them. It's bizarre how quickly you start to find alternative words you forgot existed.

English is not my native language, and I’ve had the origins of “lame” explained to me as well.

I started using “How dull” or “x activity seems dull” and apparently it still gives off the same amount of ennui as using “lame”, so you might try that?

This post is so FlickOfTheBean (Just kidding, of course. I sometimes use "meh" around people who know what a meme is, or "lukewarm" around more older or formal people)

Uncool or cringe maybe? Boring might also fit.

Maybe use "sucks"? Or "uncool" ("That thing I did was so uncool. It was really sucky.") would probably be my top suggestions.

I have seen signs hung around nearby schools trying to get the word "gay" out of common use to mean the same thing that "lame" is used for, but I don't remember a lot of the things that were on the list. If I find a copy of the sign (or one like it) I'll add it. (ok, that was 5 years ago, so they may not still be used? ... That's naive, even for me.)

As someone else said, though, I think it's used so infrequently to mean "disabled" in modern English, that you probably don't have to worry about it.

I've been using directly negative adjectives like "bad" or "unsatisfying."

Shitty

Bogus!

"Unfortunate", maybe.