# Is it offensive to call someone a "tard" or a "retard"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-offensive-to-call-someone-a-tard-or-a-retard/743270>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 15, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-offensive-to-call-someone-a-tard-or-a-retard/743270 "2016-01-15T20:19:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 11

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**Author:** ![\_Raven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/_raven/32/20435_2.png) [@\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Raven)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-offensive-to-call-someone-a-tard-or-a-retard/743270/11 "2016-01-15T21:34:41Z")

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> [@Lowdown](#):
>
> Where a term is found insulting…

Wellll… it’s not just the root word itself, but how it’s used. Note that the clinical term “mentally retarded” really means “slowed down in progress”, a somewhat neutral way to describe what’s happened _ **to** _ someone, and it’s not a noun, not necessarily an encapsulation of the entire person (unless so used in a sentence). Make it a noun, call someone a “retard” or “-tard”, and suddenly you’re summing up their entire being; that’s what really makes it insulting.

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