US Congress Bans Word ‘Lunatic’ in Federal Legislation

The measure is designed to remove language that has become outdated or demeaning from the US code.

The bill will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Senator Kent Conrad, one of the sponsors of the measure, said: “Federal law should reflect the 21st Century understanding of mental illness and disease, and that the continued use of this pejorative term has no place in the US code.”

The word still appears in some parts of federal law - a section of financial regulation, for example, addresses the power of a bank to act as a “committee of estates of lunatics”.

Lunatic derived from the word Luna (moon):

Then, among the wise and high-minded people who in self-respecting and genuine fashion strive earnestly for peace, there are foolish fanatics always to be found in such a movement and always discrediting it — the men who form the lunatic fringe in all reform movements. [Theodore Roosevelt, autobiography, 1913].

And from Sionan’s research:

Lunatic Fringe, I know you’re out there!