Way back when I was in high school (1977-81), I had taken a psychology class. The texbooks we used were at least 15 years old and had a LOT of useless information that had long since been debunked, disproven, etc.
It in was a list of terms used to describe various levels of IQ. Words such as “moron”, “idiot”, and “imbecile” were actual medical terms used to describe people. Obviously, these words no longer have those meanings attached to them (although, I was chastised by another poster last year for using one of them).
Nowadays, people tend to not want to use the term “retarded” when referring to someone who is now called “mentally challenged” or has a “learning disability”.
Do you think the word “retarded” will enter the linguistic mainstream the same way moron, imbecile, & idiot have?
As for ‘gay’, it once meant “happy & carefree”, but now refers to homosexuals (primarily men). On a daily basis, I hear school age children use it to describe something they think is stupid or lame.
Do you think that trend will end?
FTR, I don’t use the word retarded to describe anyone (or anything) and I refer to something that’s stupid as, well, stupid.
Unfortunately, I don’t think either of those words will be leaving the mainstream in a hurry.
As most parents will attest, trying to get your kid to stop swearing is a rather futile exercise. Even if you have some degree of success at home it’s unlikely to permeate into the playground. Kids vocabulary is basically determined by what their peer group says, and their peer group generally inherits their vocab from the kids slightly older than them (especially in the case of coarse language).
Words accepted into kids’ everyday speech like “retarded” and “gay” don’t tend to go away very quickly. My WAG is that particular use of “gay” will die an all-too-slow death with more widespread acceptance of homosexuality, but “retarded” with stick around just like the word dumb. Words as commonly used as I’ve seen those two used don’t seem to die out quickly unless they’re overly faddish.
Not for a very long while, like at least 50 years. Unless, of course, MTV invents some new catchphrase.
Although I rarely use the word retarded and have never used the word gay to mean “lame,” I don’t think that people who do are all that horrible. Sure, it might show some ignorance, but it’s not necessarily indicative of their overall attitude toward the issue.
Also, these two words are not equivalent. When gay is used to mean “lame,” it is demeaning to homosexuals because of the connection of “homosexual” and “lame” as being “bad.” Retarded is regarded as un-PCish (and thus, for those that adhere to that dogma, impolite and inconsiderate) but it’s not completely off in its meaning. It still means “stupid,” so it’s not straying from the original definition.
I have to disagree with you a little bit on meaning and usage.
Not using “retarded” is certainly PC, but it is also a term that has fallen out of favor in much of the disability community, though the term is still used by some states as a definition of a person who has less than a certain IQ score (usually around 70 points).
The term actually “retarded” actually means, “slowed down”. Which is not an inaccurate description of mental processing or development.
“Retard” is more commonly used to mean “stupid”. The term is likely to fade from common usage sooner than “gay”. “Retard” or “retarded” is less commonly used by professionals, parents, etc. to describe a person, and the terms are rarely used by a subculture to describe themselves. I bet if you used the SDMB mice (and they could search for a three-letter word) you would find fewer people describing their culture as “retarded” than you would people describing themselves as “gay”.
While the playground catcall “REEE-tard” is rude and while there are some groups that would like to see substitutes for retarded and mental retardation. the majority of people in the mental health community recognize (with greater or lesser resignation) that retarded is the best single word to categorize the various conditions that cause people to be slowed down in their ability to reason or understand–at least without using some long descriptive phrase that will invariably be shortened to a single non-descriptive or misleading word.
I don’t think that the word is going away soon. (And I think that inventing a new word either by coining a neologism or co-opting an existing term would be a fruitless exercise. It was only a year or two between the adoption of “retarded” by the mental health folks and the appearance of “REEE-tard” on the playgrounds. Any attempt to find a substitute for “retarded” would show up on the comedy circuit in a matter or weeks and the new word would instantly be burdened with the same stigma as “retarded.” I think they ought to just leave it alone.
Gay had a more complex history than that displayed in the OP. In the 19th century, “gay” already had taken on the subtext of licentious and loose of (sexual) morals. It was later hurled at homosexuals in the early/middle 20th century, then adopted by them as a way to remove the sting of the epithet (much in the way that people in the fledgling United States adopted the insult “Yankee” as a mark of pride).
I doubt that we could correctly guess the future of that term as a synonym for “lame.” It could very easily just drop out of sight following the ephemeral nature of teen slang. On the other hand, if the issue of marriage for homosexuals becomes a very visible firefight, many things could affect its usage: if the country generally accepts same-sex marriage, it would probably suffer a sort of natural suppression as a rudely employed word; if same-sex marriage meets a firestorm of opposition, it may either stick around as an example of well-earned opprobrium or it could become taboo as too insulting.
“Developmentally delayed,” is the current term, I believe. “Learning disabled” is another thing entirely - intelligence within normal range, specific deficits in performance.
Children use lots of words that basically mean the same to them, regardless of their official dictionary or PC meaning. It means ‘different’. Not like me. Hence inferior.
To adults (well, intelligent adults), equipped with a greater understanding of the word, the word’s use and implications can sound terribly cruel. But it’s mainly just unthinking ignorance. Most children grow out of it.
And once the current terms become unfashionable new ones will replace them, meaning exactly the same. As a trend it will never stop.
Objection! ‘Lame’ is offensive to differerently-abled individuals with special mobility issues. I demand that you cease using this word to describe things that are ‘gay’ immediately.
What TVAA said, provided the word has no more than 3-4 syllables. Otherwize, it will be truncated to a catchy abbreviation and then used as a perjorative. The word “tard”, I believe, is already in the playground insult vocabulary.
I reckon that the use of gay to mean lame is a generational pre-acceptance of homosexuality. By using the word younger people - who are more liberal than older people - will wear out its offensiveness and eventually find something else to annoy people with.
Left to themselves people will progress upward. It’s only when the bastards get control of the world that things go wrong.
Well, right now I have heard younger children using new words for things, that are “lamer” than gay. These words are homosexual and homogay. As in “that kid is so stupid and homogay.”
Anecdotaly, “retarded” and its derivatives are already in use; it’s common in my area, as is “gay.” The (derogatory) terms weren’t around when I was a child, so - yes - I assume their use will pass, just as they came.
“Homogay” is a new one to me… but it falls in line with (what I think is) the new trend: Combinations!
Basically, take a typical curse and combine it with another word, which may or may not be a curse. You get things like “Asshat” - or this new “Homogay.” Brilliant!
But even this seems to be fading. Who knows what wonderful things the future has in store for cursing.
There’s a bizarre example of a word in English that started as a homophobic insult but which is now one of the commonest words in the language. Most English speakers don’t know of its history. That’s the word “bad.” According to most dictionaries, it comes from the word “baddel,” which meant “homosexual man.” Later it came to mean “worthless” in describing a person. Now it simply means, well, “bad.”