the fact that "neurospicy" isn't the same construction as "haruspicy" sucks. "neurospicy" could literally be psychonautics. it could be a much, much cooler word for mri scans. but no its just "im neurodivergent but not like the kind of neurodivergence we consider a threat. not like... those people"
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in reply to @bigstuffedcat's post:
lots of people are big babies about spicy things and that is the spirit i have always read it in, personally
yeah i wish the term were less poisoned for me because the milkability of this metaphor, oh my god. "Neurobitter." "So sick of my neuro-potato-bread manager." "Stephen is neurotype milk, he really helps other people digest me."
i use the term "neurodivergent" in most of my public writing for clarity but i hate the term, it is clear that there is a huge percentage of the population that qualifies
neurospicy is a way to communicate with people who already know the terms without implying value judgements, and it is very silly sounding which makes it fun
but also linguistically, how are you breaking down the morphemes of haruspicy? genuine question!
I'm breaking down "haruspicy" into the Latin "haru" (guts) + "-spicy" (divination of), implying that "neurospicy" is some sort of divination based on the brain.
I'm lukewarm on "neurodivergent" myself. It's the best we have for broad audiences, I think, but imo that's partially because it feels like you're referencing some ontological "isAutistic" flag in my brain. The similarity to "neurodiversity" also leads to people saying goofy things like "a neurodiverse person" when they get their wires crossed and/or don't care about the distinction.
Often when I see "neurospicy" it's felt to me like someone reflexively calling themselves "just quirky" so neurotypicals don't read them as threats or burdens-- but you're not doing that when you're using it as a delighting word with good mouthfeel to talk to "people who already know the terms". (Besides, sucking up to the neuronormative can be done with any number of words!)
I like "neuroqueer / neuroqueered" a lot myself, but it's not everyone's cuppa to use "queer" as a verb to describe something other than e.g. gayness. Plus, I think in practice it describes a proper subset of "not neurotypical", which can be desirable but can also obscure the same gear I had to grind with "neurospicy".