So here I am reading and come across this gem
Lovely, I would’ve expected better, more refined, less offensive terminology. Noticed that the quote not only didn’t attract any negative attention it attracted this
Yeah perfect you insensitive pricks.
Notice all these things? But it’s okay I suppose since “retards” cannot properly defend themselves. Or is okay to insult a class of people when you can make it into such a nice quote?
Your link is, ah, “challenged”.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t= missed the edit window
Would saying “special needs” or “mentally handicapped” really have made the overall message any better? Is the problem the reference, or the word? Seems to me it’s just a crass statement in general, regardless of the word(s) used to describe the type of child the nameless poster was referring to.
“Retard” is an offensive word. However, “Retarded” is simply a descriptive term.
Only he didn’t use the word ‘retard’ in a slang context. He used the word retarded which means:
*adjective
What’s the problem? Offended much?
The link is still riding the short bus.
Not when used in that context, so I guess that furniture store calling the fabric “nigger brown” should be okay because it was a descriptive term?
Kin I get a link brother ?!
:dubious:
[emphasis mine]
One presumes a retarded child would indeed require excess supervision and care. Perhaps the poster quoted in the OP could be accused of bad taste in similes, but hate speech? Hardly.
Edit: Pfeh. Other Dopers beat me to it. 
I think your link needs ‘special help’.
Here is the post in question, I believe.
Yeah, no kidding. “Retarded” is a word widely seen even in scientific literature to describe the effects of a multitude of developmental disorders. It carries no particular negative connotation, despite its usurpation by puerile pop culture. So, your comparison to “retard” (which is offensive) is inexact and misleading.
In short, saying “Your kid is a retard” might be roughly comparable to “Your kid is a spic/fag/kike.” Saying “Your child is retarded” (depending on the context, it may be insensitive, but not bigoted) is more like saying “Your child is Hispanic/homosexual/Jewish.”
Turn down the offend-o-meter.
Yawn
Help me out here. Are you saying that we shouldn’t use the word “retarded” at all, or that we simply should not use the retarded to make analogies?
This is the most retarded pitting I have ever seen.
…and this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we don’t post to threads opened an hour ago without previewing. :smack:
Fucking Scruloose, all stealin’ my thunder an hour before I even said anything…
Nyah-nyah.
I think he/she is saying that likening your boat to a retarded child is just as offensive as likening it to a homosexual. So, in the analogy in question:
Not so funny now, is it?
That’s right, unless you think it’s a proper way to classify something. Would you like it if someone said, hey you remember that Miller? The fag? Descriptive right? But offensive correct?