# In which forums is the use of "tard" acceptable?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [May 7, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762 "2018-05-07T15:44:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/21 "2018-05-08T01:16:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> A few of us mods actually have lives;), and may have been busy or overlooked the report.
I’m a single parent and I’ve been working damn near 7 days a week for over a month. I have not been on here as much as I normally am. I’ll ask Ed to cut my pay in half.
In general I don’t see a prohibition for the word as long as it’s not pointed at a poster as a personal insult. Too much tardiness will probably get the thread moved to the Pit or moderated if it’s a hijack. I’ll give it some more thought.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/22 "2018-05-08T01:17:09Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> I thought a loach was a fish 😕
Helicopter actually.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/23 "2018-05-08T01:27:12Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Helicopter actually.
Ignorance fought. I admit that like the fish, with their little barbels. I will now read up on the Hughes OH-6 Cayuse.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/24 "2018-05-08T01:33:04Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Great. She’s honorable and I’m just chopped liver.
Yeah but we like chopped liver too.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/25 "2018-05-08T01:42:37Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Great. She’s honorable and I’m just chopped liver.
Look-It’s a mod pâté party!
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/26 "2018-05-08T01:45:35Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Based on my own observations of moderation and the rule in question, such would be permitted, You even quoted the relevant part: “Group insults, while permitted in most cases, will not be tolerated if they are aimed at other posters participating in the discussion.” “Trump and his tard army” sure seems to be a group insult, so, unless it was directed towards a poster, it would seem to be acceptable.
>
> “Libtard” would be similar. The main problem would be that it’s more broad, as, if not limited in some way, it attacks all liberals. As such, it may more easily be seen as attacking a particular liberal or liberals in the thread in question. This is less of a problem with the idea of a “Trump army,” since such would only describe his most militant supporters.
>
> That said, I hate the prefix -tard, and view it the same as the “retard” slur. I would not mind in the slightest if I’m wrong.
What are your feelings on the suffix form?
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/27 "2018-05-08T14:30:31Z")
Pleading guilty of Posting While Old, but what does “tard” mean? Why is it so bad? What protected class is offended by it? Has it something to do with bastardy?
According to the clip in the OP, if the usage is “retired”, do our Ozark posters need to assure us that they do not pronounce that word “re-tard”? Oops, did I just offend another protected class, hillbilllies? It’s so hard to keep up with these things if you don’t read your Facebook Newsfeeds.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/28 "2018-05-08T15:03:12Z")
Wow.
“Retarded” (like ‘moron’ and ‘imbecile’) was once a legitimate term used to describe people with mental disabilities. It has since become a pejorative and is no longer used in scientific literature or official classifications (such as in schools).
It has not, nor has it ever, been specifically a word used to insult hillbillies.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/29 "2018-05-08T16:08:08Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Pleading guilty of Posting While Old, but what does “tard” mean? Why is it so bad? What protected class is offended by it? Has it something to do with bastardy?
>
> According to the clip in the OP, if the usage is “retired”, do our Ozark posters need to assure us that they do not pronounce that word “re-tard”? Oops, did I just offend another protected class, hillbilllies? It’s so hard to keep up with these things if you don’t read your Facebook Newsfeeds.
Regardless how moderation decisions are handled here at the boards, use the term “retard” or “X-tard” out in the real world at your own risk.
As insult, it is not new. The trend to not offend innocent people by taking their attributes and turning them into an insult (see, gay) is hardly the product of Facebook and hardly new.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/30 "2018-05-08T18:36:54Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Pleading guilty of Posting While Old, but what does “tard” mean? Why is it so bad? What protected class is offended by it? Has it something to do with bastardy?
>
> According to the clip in the OP, if the usage is “retired”, do our Ozark posters need to assure us that they do not pronounce that word “re-tard”? Oops, did I just offend another protected class, hillbilllies? It’s so hard to keep up with these things if you don’t read your Facebook Newsfeeds.
I am in my fifties and I do not believe you have never heard “retard” used as an insult. It was a common insult in the many elementary schools I went to (Foreign Service brat) and has been used in countless movies, books, TV shows and other media. It predates Facebook by decades.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/31 "2018-05-08T21:21:26Z")
> [@Jasmine](#):
>
> Hurtful name calling that serves no purpose other than to insult and demean should be banned because it has no place in an intelligent debate. It just stirs up anger and triggers retaliation. Criticisms that are based in proven fact and which are couched in intelligent language, however, should be perfectly fine even if they reflect poorly on the political figure being criticized. For example, now that Trump’s own man, Giuliani, has outed him as a complete liar, the phrase “our lying president” would be acceptable because it is, in fact, a proven truth. A word like “libtard”, however, is nothing more than a nasty adolescent insult.
I do wonder sometimes if it’s more useful just to let people who can’t debate honestly and intelligently to identify themselves by saying the stupid things they say - of course, the noise sometimes makes all debate impossible, but on balance, I feel like name-calling ought not to be banned - it’s useful in figuring out who isn’t worth listening to.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/32 "2018-05-09T00:29:56Z")
Yes, I’ve heard the word retard, but I didn’t realize it had risen to the level of the N-word such that it is impermissible to use any word that even resembles it. One has to be on the cutting edge these days to know what terms are permissible for protected classes. As Ross Perot discovered, even the second person pronoun is a pejorative.
My reference to hillbillies was not to identify them as retards, but because “retard” is how they pronounce “retired”, a fate some one said ought to befall the “x-tard” complex. Sorry that sailed over your head.
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### Author:  [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/33 "2018-05-09T01:34:13Z")
as a disabled person … I can remember when it was an actual medical term until the ADA passed and all of a sudden official language changed everywhere…
Now if it was that easy for people in general …
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/34 "2018-05-09T02:20:46Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Yes, I’ve heard the word retard, but I didn’t realize it had risen to the level of the N-word such that it is impermissible to use any word that even resembles it. One has to be on the cutting edge these days to know what terms are permissible for protected classes. As Ross Perot discovered, even the second person pronoun is a pejorative.
>
> My reference to hillbillies was not to identify them as retards, but because “retard” is how they pronounce “retired”, a fate some one said ought to befall the “x-tard” complex. Sorry that sailed over your head.
Probably around the time I left high school, mid-80s, both gay and retarted as derogatory terms was falling out, so it’s hardly a new phenomenon. I’m not sure why you’re comparing it to the N-word, since no one else is, but yes, it’s considered extremely rude and a pretty lousy thing to say.
Why that would be considered a bad thing is beyond me. There are plenty of ways to insult people left, if need be.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/35 "2018-05-09T03:48:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Yes, I’ve heard the word retard, but I didn’t realize it had risen to the level of the N-word such that it is impermissible to use any word that even resembles it.
“Tard” doesn’t merely resemble “retard,” it’s a shortened form of the word.
> [@](#):
>
> One has to be on the cutting edge these days to know what terms are permissible for protected classes.
Only if you consider “being on the cutting edge” to have been paying attention sometime within the past 50 years. “Retard” was an insult when I was in grammar school in the 1950s.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/36 "2018-05-09T08:15:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> “Tard” doesn’t merely resemble “retard,” it’s a shortened form of the word.
>
> Only if you consider “being on the cutting edge” to have been paying attention sometime within the past 50 years. “Retard” was an insult when I was in grammar school in the 1950s.
And a hundred others, like nerd, dork, bum, none which now require mandatory sensitivity training. But others were not insults, including the likes of crippled and Negro.
Not everyone structures their lives in the same way, in order to be knowledgeably uptodate about the trendy fashions of speech or anything else to which one must pay attention.
Note also that this thread rolled along nicely for eleven posts before any reference was made to the word “retard”.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/37 "2018-05-09T08:34:46Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> And a hundred others, like nerd, dork, bum, none which now require mandatory sensitivity training. But others were not insults, including the likes of crippled and Negro.
>
> Not everyone structures their lives in the same way, in order to be knowledgeably uptodate about the trendy fashions of speech or anything else to which one must pay attention.
>
> Note also that this thread rolled along nicely for eleven posts before any reference was made to the word “retard”.
Because it didn’t occur to anyone to explain the obvious.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/38 "2018-05-09T12:07:42Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Not everyone structures their lives in the same way, in order to be knowledgeably uptodate about the trendy fashions of speech or anything else to which one must pay attention.
It seems like you’ve been educated despite your best efforts. That’s good, right? Because the thrust of your complaint seems to be that it’s just Too Dang Hard to keep up with which words are considered hurtful and have become socially unacceptable. Consider yourself forewarned and forearmed.
> [@](#):
>
> Note also that this thread rolled along nicely for eleven posts before any reference was made to the word “retard”.
No, more like the thread rolled along for eleven posts before anybody bothered to use the full word since it was **so glaringly obvious** what everyone was talking about.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/39 "2018-05-09T14:25:40Z")
Bustards and bastards, custards and costards, leotards and unitards. As you can clearly see, tards are everywhere. It’s bigger than we are.
Anyone have any mustard?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-forums-is-the-use-of-tard-acceptable/813762/40 "2018-05-09T14:45:34Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> Bustards and bastards, custards and costards, leotards and unitards. As you can clearly see, tards are everywhere. It’s bigger than we are.
> Anyone have any mustard?
I have no problem getting what this thread is about-variations of the word “retard”.
Are you still uncertain?
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