Is spastic an offensive term

Answer 1

It depends on which variant of English you are using.

Spastic is highly offensive in Britain, as it is used to denote people with cerebral palsy. Its use as an insult is considered almost as taboo as the term "retarded".

In the USA, Australia and Canada, the term spastic is not seen as offensive, and is used as a general term for clumsy startling excitability. It is often used in everyday language there.

This has caused controversy when American and Australian products were released in the UK. An example was with the game Mario Party 8 for using the term "spastic" casually. It was quickly recalled and later rereleased with the term "erratic".