Yup. Just like in real life.
Love claiming.
O, as the kids are saying, noes!
If this happens, then every few years we take a word out of our vocabulary. In a world filled with war crimes and pandemics and high gas prices and Firefly being canceled after one season, I think we can all adjust.
Which has, almost, nothing to do with the word(s) under dicussion.
I see you haven’t met Ms Mr Enfield…
Here’s a good article pertinent to the subject. As I implied earlier, words like “idiot”, “imbecile”, and the like all share a common etymology with “retard” in that they were all once medical terms that morphed into the general vocabulary as insults. The difference with “retard” is that its rejection from medical use is more recent – it was removed from the wording of federal legislation as recently as the Obama administration – and it spent more time than the others in the dual role of both a medical term and a common insult.
The info below is some informative background. Again, my main point is that the nuances of language are complex and although we should (and we do) impose socially acceptable standards that are context-dependent, we need to be very careful about policing language with sanctions.
Some might be confused by the fact that “idiot,” “moron,” “imbecile,” and “feeble-minded” are thrown around casually, while “retard” is reviled. Sokolowski thinks this has to do with ignorance of word origins: “It’s surprising to people today that words like moron once had a scientific meaning. But clearly the greater understanding of brain function and treatments for disorders have led to important changes in vocabulary, which show measurable progress in both sensitivity and accuracy. Logic and language don’t always go together, but with these words the offensiveness was clear, and so was the solution.”
Why is “retard” treated differently from similar words? It may be that its medical and slang uses overlapped longer. Ben Zimmer, language columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote in an e-mail: “Words like ‘moron’ and ‘imbecile,’ while originating in psychological research, quickly fell out of scholarly fashion as they got taken up in popular usage as synonyms for ‘fool.’ ‘Retarded’ took much longer before it was replaced by ‘intellectually disabled’ and so forth. So I think there was more time for ‘retarded’ to lead a double life, in both technical and lay usage, which made it more obviously offensive.”
Wow, it’s 2022 and “the smartest people on the Internet” are still using “retard” as a pejorative? I had to check the date of this thread to make sure it wasn’t 2002.
Not cool, guys. I haven’t noticed it myself, but I definitely think its use should be strongly discouraged around here. It really, really is not a word anyone should be using. Do you feel the need to use it because you can’t flippantly call stuff “so gay” anymore? Geez.
I’d say that anything that is commonly referred to as the __-word is ripe for sanctions.
Aside: I thought that your dog was wearing a Ukraine collar, but on closer inspection, I see that it’s a heart. I like that!
I have to agree, “retard” as an insult is disgustingly offensive hate speech. It’s just as bad as any other insult I can think of, including the C word and N word, or slurs against sexual orientations, if not worse, because it’s using an even more marginalized demographic and turning it into a pejorative.
I don’t see it used often here, but when I do it puts me on edge. It makes me feel like I’m reading YouTube comments or one of the really bad Subreddits. I’m surprised it’s not already banned.
I do not see it used much around here at all. Not saying it never is but I think it is rare.
And while I do not like its use I would rather it not be banned. Frankly, I’d rather see a person’s character on full display rather than hidden behind euphemisms because the vocabulary police might get them.
I’ve seen the same argument made about every other slur. “What do you mean I can’t call them negroes, what’s next, I can’t call them coloreds?”
I think it is different if the slur never had any other use than as a slur.
And what’s your step 2? Seeing their character does not stop or even reduce the denigration of those who are most hurt by the term continuing to be used, which is the point of not using it.
“Niggard” wasn’t always a slur.
Niggard has no ties to the N-word. Why did you bring that up? It is an old verging on archaic word that roughly means miserly.
I’ve seen an explosion of perjoratives that end in “tard”, like fucktard and libtard, and a lot of one-off expressions on that form. I think it’s more common now that in 2002.
I’m in the camp that would like to see it go. Although i will say that I’ve previously moderated a board where it was banned, and we were CONSTANTLY chasing after it, and it was a fair amount of work to implement the ban.
My son is 27. Twenty years ago he corrected me when I used the term “retard” as an insult. He actually had to explain why it bothered him so much (a classmate was “slow” and my son was trying to help him). I eventually understood his point and changed my behavior.
I agree. It’s such an easy tool for spotting the, um, not entirely thoughtful posters (I should be more generous and say “not entirely thoughtful posts” — anyone can have an occasionally off day, if you’re angry and tired).
Nice. My son has been taking piano lessons, and he advised me to say “ritardando” (“slowing down” in Italian) when we discuss a piece that has “ritard” (“slow”) written on it.
Even though this is a technical use of a slightly different word with similar pronunciation to the slur, he feels it’s better to avoid any possible misunderstanding. In the end I agreed with him.
True, that is folk etymology that I was taught in public school that I sometimes forget is BS.
However, the term does derive from the Latin word for “black”. You can trace back pretty much any word used as a slur to a usage that predates the slur. That doesn’t make it any less of a slur.
My opinion is that “retard” used as a slur is hate speech and is already against board rules. I can’t see any reasonable argument against that. It is a pejorative targeting a marginalized class. You’re literally saying, “You are as bad as this disadvantaged person over here that I am using as an example of something terrible.”
I am glad I don’t see it used often here, but it is already a violation of board rules the few times it is used.
The difference is there’s nothing objectively bad about being a different ethnicity or gay etc, and so slurs relating to those things are much more objectionable (and unacceptable) that what is generally an emphatic way to express one’s view that something is spectacularly stupid.
Grow a thicker skin. Seriously.
There is no shortage of people willing to denigrate you. Call you names. Demean you. Especially on the internet.
Heck, even this enlightened board embraces that and has a place dedicated to insulting others.
We have people in society who are mentally slow, or deficient, or retarded or whatever the acceptable term du jour is. There need to be terms for those people even if only for medical and legal purposes. So, however you want to sanitize the language someone will latch on to those new “ok” terms and use it as a slur.
So, you end up in this chase to stop using those words.
Let people identify themselves as creeps and shrug it off. I do not think you will ever get the inoffensive use of language you seem to want.