I grew up with the word retarded. And retards. It was not a compliment. I personally use the word “fucktard” more than I should, and I try to not use the word. It still comes out sometimes.
I have a 10 year old daughter on the autism spectrum. She is not retarded. I hope she never gets called retarded. Hell, I don’t know how I would react if she gets called retarded in my presence.
So, I get people still using the word retard as an expression and not personally directed at developmentally disabled folks. But I wish they wouldn’t and I try hard myself to break a habit ingrained over too many decades.
Back in the day, I used to do my own car engine tune-ups. (Some of you can see already where this is going . . . )
If the spark plugs didn’t fire at exactly the right time, the timing had to be adjusted. The timing either had to be advanced or . . . electrically challenged?
ETA:
. . . and “imbecile” too. They all became perjoratives. You can probably blame The Three Stooges for that.
Well put. But it will be replaced by some other term that some will find irresistible to use. I don’t get why this is so difficult to understand or why some so staunchly defend their usage. Don’t use a term that targets a subset of our society most in need of our protection as a frame of reference for ridicule. Because it’s assholish. Because it dehumanizes innocent people. Some other term will get the job done. The fact that “imbecile” once carried the same baggage is irrelevant, now, because it no longer does.
[…]
People say stupid things. Sometimes out of cruelty and sometimes out of sheer ignorance. I didn’t say I applaud use of the term, I just don’t feel the need to try and control other peoples’ vocabulary.
[…]]
It can be helpful to point out that a term on the euphemism treadmill has become hurtful, because some people using it are ignorant of its hurtfulness and don’t mean to hurt anybody.
Trying to prevent anybody from hurting others when they mean to is a different story. But we aren’t necessarily trying to accomplish that much.
And when that happens, you’d be well-advised not to use “special” as an insult. Honestly, that’s a good idea now: if someone is expressing a particularly stupid idea, is it cricket to drag kids with mental disabilities into the equation?
I think about the insult formulation, “I’d compare you to X, but that would be unfair to X.” In this case, that’s genuinely true.
Insults are meant to be offensive. That’s kinda the point. Near as I can tell the only PC insults left are asshole, asshat, and so on. Most everyone has a butt.
It seems to me that the euphemism treadmill can only work if the words fit our basic ideas of insults. And one thing about insults is that they are generally short and either unique or easily inflected so as to be unique (like the aforementioned “special,” which is really short for “special needs”).
Have you ever heard African American used as an insult? I only have as a joke. It just doesn’t lend itself well. And both parts, African and American, are not unique enough to become insults on their own.
As for “retarded,” I used to reserve it for particularly bad situations, but then I realized that “moronic” always fits, carries the same tone, and is not currently taboo.
I’m still searching for one for “spastic.” . “Fidgety” is close, but not quite right, as it implies hyperactivity, which is not quite it. Fortunately, I didn’t use it often at all.
Yes, but they are supposed to offensive in a certain way* and to the right people. Retarded is one of those words that is offensive to those with certain mental disorders, but is usually used against others. So you’re insulting the wrong person. Kinda like using “gay” to mean bad.
Yes, it’s offensive to call the mentally disabled “retarded,” but that’s because it’s offensive to insult someone for their disability. That’s a different issue that is insult-related instead of word related. At most, using a more offensive words just makes the offense worse.
Also, I assume you were joking with a lot of that list. Motherfucker is not anti-Southern. And most of your ableist ones are not ableist. The euphemism treadmill also means older terms get less offensive.
I think you miss that “retarded” does not have a positive meaning but comes with only negative connotations
Whereas, “special” generally positive connotations. And even when used in a negative way such as “well isn’t that special” doesn’t have the same negative connotation as “retarded” does.
If you want, move motherfucker to the patriarchal or misogynistic category. It’s definitely not PC, whatever it is.
When you call someone an idiot you’re saying they’re bad because they have a lower IQ. This is offensive to those with lower IQs, or those who have developmental disorders. That’s ableism.
Add autistic there too. That’s really popular nowadays. It’s also unlike “gay” or “retarded” where some might argue it’s not a literal description of the target but a different way to insult the person in a general sense. When people call someone else autistic they often try to stay accurate to the disorder.
Could add some more categories.
Body shaming: Ugly, fat, smelly, mouth breather (or maybe that’s albeist, guess it depends on why)
Ancient racism/classist: Philistine, pleb
Mental health shaming: Crazy, nuts, freak, fucked up in the head
We have to stop changing what we call things just because some people use it offensively. Let people say offensive things, and we can judge them for it. If someone wants to use the word gay as a pejorative, it helps me realize that the person I’m dealing with is a cretin. The word “special” nowadays as someone else already pointed is now often used as a pejorative. In another decade or so, it may carry the same level of invective as “retarded” does now.
So let’s stop finding new words to get upset about, etc. You make one word forbidden, you just invite another one to come up in its place.
And gay is a good example where plenty of people use it positively, and plenty of people use it negatively, and it’s not hard to figure out which is which.
Naw, it’s great. Without it, we wouldn’t have such a stunning array of useful words, spaced gradually on a spectrum of offensiveness. Older euphemisms like bad (derived from a word meaning effeminate or homosexual) no longer carry any baggage whatsoever; if we want our speech to carry more of a punch, we can use words like retarded. In between we have all the other words we know and love, like stupid, idiotic, moronic, or indeed cretinous. English would be a lesser language without the treadmill.
My objection to this is that having difficulty walking is objectively bad. No one hopes they have a spinal cord injury or need a leg amputated. No one ever sits back and says, gosh, life would be so much better if I suffered from severe fatigue from everyday levels of exertion. No one blows out the birthday candles and wishes for chronic pain. And I’m saying this as someone who has difficulty walking long distances or running any distance due to a chronic condition.
If the only objection is that using language like this implies that disability is bad, then I’m one hundred percent okay with using language like this.
The Black Eyed Peas changed the lyrics and title of one of their early hits: Let’s Get Retarded
to: Let’s Get it Started so they could make more money licensing the rights to the song to the NBA for the 2004 NBA playoffs.
I’ve read similar stuff before, and I feel torn. On one hand, I tend to see myself aligned with stigmitized minority groups in general. If a group says something is offensive, I tend to take their word for it and act accordingly, even when I don’t “get” it.
But on this issue, it’s not clear-cut. All of my life, I have dealt with a motor skills disorder. It wasn’t until I was an adult when I was given a diagnosis so I could describe myself as something besides “big ole klutz”. But it was never hidden from me. Even as a small kid I knew my clumsiness made me different, in a negative way. I suffered from the name-calling and the bullying and lack of understanding from everyone, including myself.
But I also am quite “able”, both in appearance and in action. Someone who just overhears me say something is “lame”, without knowing anything else about me, would assume I was asserting my “abelist privilege”. Well, no. I know how it feels to be called “lame” because I couldn’t run as fast as the other kids on the playground or do jumping jacks or speak without sounding drunk. Haven’t I earned the privilege of “reclaiming” that word just as much as anyone else?
It does grate to hear someone say they are a “little” OCD when they really mean to say they are nitpicky. I have some obsessive traits, and it’s not really a joking matter for me. But! I’m not going to assume that a person who says they are a “little” OCD doesn’t have the right to say that. A hidden disability is just that…hidden. So is “lameness.” So it’s complicated.