• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Do you still say "retard" or "retarded" in conversation?

Feels like it's been a decade or so, but there was a big push for people to stop using retard and retarded in conversation as a negative word replacement for things like "stupid" or "idiotic" or the like.

I remember belonging to an online group years ago, where one of the members had a daughter with Down syndrome and asked everyone if they could not use it. Most people complied, though some didn't. I always felt on the fence, as the word could perfectly encapsulate what you were trying to say, i.e. "That person is acting as if they have mental retardation". It always seemed like a clear, clinical term, but I also understand how it's use could be seen as.. I don't know, belittling (?) people who are actually, clinically, retarded?

I've seen the word used less and less over time, but today I was driving and saw a kid riding his skateboard looking at his phone and he went straight into a hedge and I thought "retard", out of nowhere.

Got me thinking what the GAF has to say about it's use. What say you?

EDIT: Also, I wanted to put a poll in, but couldn't figure out how, am I retarded?
 
Last edited:

Tesseract

Banned
if i'm playing games with my closest friends, we will use the slang form to jockey and jab each other

i have nothing against disabled, it's just a holdover from days of future past

locker room talk is real, idgaf

source.gif
 
Last edited:
Nah. I see no use for the words that other, better words can easily accomplish.

This makes sense.

if i'm playing games with my closest friends, we will use the slang form to jockey and jab each other

i have nothing against disabled, it's just a holdover from days of future past

Also, this. Calling someone a RETARD was "Classic 80s" in my life, it was just common vernacular.. and so it's been kind of hard to remove from my brain I guess. It's the same with calling someone or something "gay" meaning "lame". I don't do it often, but sometimes it'll just come out (oh my).
 

Tesseract

Banned
This makes sense.



Also, this. Calling someone a RETARD was "Classic 80s" in my life, it was just common vernacular.. and so it's been kind of hard to remove from my brain I guess. It's the same with calling someone or something "gay" meaning "lame". I don't do it often, but sometimes it'll just come out (oh my).

ya, fag and gay were pretty interchangeably used to mean 'lame' among friends all the way to college and beyond

never used outside intimate settings
 

GAMETA

Banned
In Portuguese we use "retardado" pretty often, it has the exact same meaning. Nowadays it's used only as a slur towards idiotic/stupid behavior and no longer to describe someone with actual retardation, which would be seen as very rude, although understandable.

I was surprised to learn the word is a "taboo" in English.
 
Last edited:

Nymphae

Banned
Yes, frequently. One time I asked my friend who has a retarded sister if it bothered him, he said that's stupid. If you tell me it offends you, I'd probably avoid using it in your company, but we all know what it means and I've never used the word to demean a mentally challenged person, so I'm not fond of people getting offended on their behalf.
 
As long as you're not saying it to or around an actual retarded person, which can be really hard to discern with the people you encounter these days. :messenger_smirking:

But I remember as a kid it was offensive, then people got over it - provided the context used. Now in the last 5-ish years people are scared again and even the replacement words like "exceptional" are offensive, yet I can still call people "idiots" or "morons", the very words retarded had replaced to be more politically correct. =P
 
Last edited:
No -- as was said earlier, there are more precise and less jerky words to say what you mean. Besides, it's not as if calling something "stupid" lacks force.

I feel like there is a distinct... something... between saying "Dude, you're stupid" and "Dude, you're retarded". Is it worth saying it in front of someone who would be offended by it? I don't think so. Around people who know/understand the usage? I suppose.
 

pr0cs

Member
Yep but mostly in social circumstances with friends though it has slipped out in public that I hadn't planned.
Part of the vernacular for so long, that kinda shit happens
 
Also, to address my other questions.. are polls not allowed or something in Off-topic? Or am I seriously blind that I couldn't find the option?
 
If the mood hits me I might. I don’t intentionally say it to be an edgelord, but also, I don’t go looking for reasons TO say it. I don’t say it around folks that are or folks that know someone who has any kind of mental impairment. Call my friends retards all the time.

Isn’t there some sort of Michael Scott quote, “You don’t call retarded people retards; You call you friends retards when they’re being retarded.”

probably butchered that quote but you know what I mean.

edit: fixed a you’re/your, now I’m shamefaced
 
Last edited:

Breakage

Member
I don't hear it a lot here in England. I don't use it myself. It's more of a US thing, I think. Brits are more likely to use C U Next Tuesday.
 
Last edited:

MastAndo

Gold Member
No, but it does slip. I'm no bleeding heart, but I try not to use words that might sincerely bother anyone I consider a friend (and I agree with/understand the reasoning), even when not in their presence. It's just a thing of mine, and it's only a handful of words as I don't really have thin-skinned friends, but that word happens to be one of them.
 
Last edited:

nush

Gold Member
It seems to be an American word so was not popular at all in the UK. Joey, Scopa, flid or spastic were all the rage.
 

BigBooper

Member
Nah, but I never used it or called everything gay back when I was a kid either. I may use it on the rare occasion when talking about an actual retarded person.
 
I think this is one of these things that gets out of hands on both sides. Leftists go nuts at you using it rather than just saying politely “hey- do you mind using another word? My brother/cousin/friend etc has a disorder and I’d prefer a bit more respect”

Meanwhile right wingers respond with “RAAARR YOU CANT TELL ME WHAT TO NOT SAY RETARD RETARD RETARD” instead of - “no worries man- not using this word in your presence literally doesn’t change my life one bit! *crack a beer open and cheers*”

Language can change. We don’t have to worry about everything but think about if you had a little brother or cousin who had Down syndrome and someone called them a retard, behind their back or to their face. It’s just nasty at that point and mean spirited.
 

Moneal

Member
Yes. Retard means to delay or slow down development or progress. A person being stupid slowing me down is a retardation to my progress. People against the word not only want it to not be used casually, but to also remove it from medical use as well. They should pick one.

Meanwhile right wingers respond with “RAAARR YOU CANT TELL ME WHAT TO NOT SAY RETARD RETARD RETARD” instead of - “no worries man- not using this word in your presence literally doesn’t change my life one bit! *crack a beer open and cheers*”

It litteraly would be changing their life at least one bit. They would litteraly be changing the word they say.
 

brap

Banned
Yeah but not towards anybody that's actually disabled.

I think this is one of these things that gets out of hands on both sides. Leftists go nuts at you using it rather than just saying politely “hey- do you mind using another word? My brother/cousin/friend etc has a disorder and I’d prefer a bit more respect”

Meanwhile right wingers respond with “RAAARR YOU CANT TELL ME WHAT TO NOT SAY RETARD RETARD RETARD” instead of - “no worries man- not using this word in your presence literally doesn’t change my life one bit! *crack a beer open and cheers*”

Language can change. We don’t have to worry about everything but think about if you had a little brother or cousin who had Down syndrome and someone called them a retard, behind their back or to their face. It’s just nasty at that point and mean spirited.

m0xG1Ow.jpg
 

lock2k

Banned
Feels like it's been a decade or so, but there was a big push for people to stop using retard and retarded in conversation as a negative word replacement for things like "stupid" or "idiotic" or the like.

I remember belonging to an online group years ago, where one of the members had a daughter with Down syndrome and asked everyone if they could not use it. Most people complied, though some didn't. I always felt on the fence, as the word could perfectly encapsulate what you were trying to say, i.e. "That person is acting as if they have mental retardation". It always seemed like a clear, clinical term, but I also understand how it's use could be seen as.. I don't know, belittling (?) people who are actually, clinically, retarded?

I've seen the word used less and less over time, but today I was driving and saw a kid riding his skateboard looking at his phone and he went straight into a hedge and I thought "retard", out of nowhere.

Got me thinking what the GAF has to say about it's use. What say you?

EDIT: Also, I wanted to put a poll in, but couldn't figure out how, am I retarded?

Yes. I think it's funny and I hate the police attitude towards language.
 
Last edited:

kunonabi

Member
Yeah, i still use it when not engaged in more formal conversation. If somebody gives me crap for it I'll just start using "developmentally delayed" as obnoxiously as possible instead.
 

quickwhips

Member
Sometimes my conversations get retarded but i never use the word. I mean if the time is right and im hanging with my buds and my children aren't around i might call my friend retarded though. If he is acting like a fag of course. This topic feels so 90s
 

skneogaf

Member
I use every word that's been invented that's now found upon as I enjoy the saying words that others are now afraid to.
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
Yes. But not around people I don’t know. And not with the elderly. They tend to think that word is not offensive but immature (which it is).
 

Gargus

Banned
Yes I do.

Retarded means foolish or stupid, or behind the expected level at which something currently is like even the growth of a flower can be retarded.

If I call someone a retard I am not making fun of actual retards, I am making fun of the person who isn't one but acting like they are retarded. Besides it's just a descriptive word and nothing else. Mentally handicapped person and retarded are the same fucking thing and mean the same thing in reference to that person and neither one is a negative because it's well, the same thing.

I am not mean or cruel to people or try to hurt their feelings. But unless I am at work I refuse to be politically correct because I don't like weak willed and soft ass pussies and if me being politically incorrect keeps them away then I'm all for it.

Besides it is very freeing to be politically incorrect in today's world.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom