TwEE-N-Toast
Banned
Isn't "stupid" considered ableist, by those who consider such things?
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The R word.
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The Illiterati
Member
So explain something to me. If I say " Dude that's retarded." referring to a drawing of Sonic(for instance), you would take offense, as retarded is not a proper word for mentally challenged people, correct?
So why if I said "Dude, that's stupid." while referring to a drawing of Sonic(for instance), would you not also take offense? In neither case am I referring the words towards a human being.
It was enough to have the Black Eyed Peas re-record their song "Let's get retarded" as "Let's get it started". ,
Nah.
Words have the power we give them. It doesn't matter what the etymology is. Nobody really correlates the term "moron" with mental disabilities, they correlate it with just general stupidity. Which is why retard stands alone here, because it was recently used to describe mental disabilities in a clinical setting. People remember and correlate.
flaxknuckles
Member
So if we can't use retarded, stupid, moron, dummy, etc then what do we call people who say and do things that are considered not smart to do? Do we just not insult people D:
It's worth noting that "retarded" is just the latest in a series of "polite" terms for the intellectually disabled to later take on a pejorative connotation. "Stupid" and "moron" were once accepted terms to use in normal speech, but later became insults, and those terms had to be replaced with ones without those connotations, but the cycle always continues. It's a tradition that's been around for as long as the languages we speak. (And yeah it's happened in more than just english.) Insulting someone's intelligence is one of the most basic forms of insult, and so that naturally follows, as cruel as it may be to the disabled among us.
I think now finally expanding the accepted terminology to multiple words and making it sound as clinical as possible is going to do a lot to stop that pattern in its tracks. Most people who would say "uh, well, you're retarded" as an insult aren't going to as readily say "uh, well, you're intellectually and developmentally disabled".
Still, I understand that it offends people and why it offends people and continue to try to remove it from my speech. Every now and then I slip up and I sincerely and profusely apologize for that.
I think now finally expanding the accepted terminology to multiple words and making it sound as clinical as possible is going to do a lot to stop that pattern in its tracks. Most people who would say "uh, well, you're retarded" as an insult aren't going to as readily say "uh, well, you're intellectually and developmentally disabled".
Still, I understand that it offends people and why it offends people and continue to try to remove it from my speech. Every now and then I slip up and I sincerely and profusely apologize for that.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
As soon as you replace whatever word people use to describe retarded people, the new word immediately becomes an insult as well. When I was in school the popular phrase was "mentally challenged" which immediately became shortened to "metal" or "mental kid" and used as an insult.
Words like idiot used to be the polite way to describe these people, but that word its self now has no other meaning than an insult. People with no sympathy will always compare others to retarded people to degrade them, or hold a person's disability against them, or abuse people for no other reason than that they are different. You can't avoid meanness or cruelty with new words.
Someone using the word retard as an insult says something about the person using it, not people whom it would accurately describe. If you let them have the word, they win the battle, and they start it anew when you find a new acceptable word.
Words like idiot used to be the polite way to describe these people, but that word its self now has no other meaning than an insult. People with no sympathy will always compare others to retarded people to degrade them, or hold a person's disability against them, or abuse people for no other reason than that they are different. You can't avoid meanness or cruelty with new words.
Someone using the word retard as an insult says something about the person using it, not people whom it would accurately describe. If you let them have the word, they win the battle, and they start it anew when you find a new acceptable word.
It's understandable that you would take offense.
Joyful
Member
rick is a great character, very blunt
bootsthecat
Banned
I've made an effort to not use the word. Not because I feel it is particularly vicious, but I do have a close friend and a couple co-workers who have someone with downs in their immediate families. And man, they do NOT appreciate that word being used. I just try to use 'fucking stupid' instead nowadays.
Schrade
Member
Ouch.. rofl.
"Lame" and "dumb" are probably even better examples of words that (had) more direct connection to physical disabilities and now don't. I expect "retarded" to follow a similar linguistic evolutionary track.
SixMachine
Member
I always found it weird how this term came to correlate with retard. Mongoloid, caucusoid, and negroid were terms used to classify different human races, with mongoloid describing people of Asian descent. So it's weird that in a way people are calling each other asian...
Also that Titus skit posted in here is pretty funny, in a way I do see the word's usage within that kind of context. I never really hear it used describe people that are mentally challenged, but if someone who is perfectly normal, does something extremely stupid, I know people who call them out as retarded.
Except that moron, imbecile and idiot were official terms for the mentally disabled and have since been abandoned just like the word retarded. So the hypocrisy of people who want to ban the word retarded but not the rest is kind of hilarious and shows how arbitrary and, dare I say, idiotic their rules are.
Scientist Supreme!
Banned
I hate whenever people misuse it do to my sister.
Be ablist and racist in one go, a twofer!
The term originated in the age of scientific racism when the "scientists" wondered how some members of the white race could exhibit mental deficiency, so they took a very superficial look at down's syndrome and decided that one of the person's ancestors must have been raped by a Mongol back in the 1200s.
Aye. Moron and idiot were also terms for the mentally challenged or insane for some time. These things change.
Correct.
This whole "stupid" argument doesn't bother me. The R word was based off of the term mentally retarded.
I work in a Cerebral Palsy and Autism center. I'm sure I hear the word stupid while I never hear the R word.
Strangelove77
Member
Not to worry, I switched to "mongoloid" a few years back. It's all good.
thecouncil
Banned
So you're saying to give it time?
I dunno. I don't use any of those words. I must be a more liberal democrat than you.
SixMachine
Member
What a fucking leap.
Eyeshield1625
Member
You say the M Word.
Lol the "liberal democrat" part of the original post has basically taken over here now. I do love a good thread morph. Emergent content ftw.
richardhawk
Member
I use it pretty often.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
just fyi your post immediately before this is taking offence that someone implied xbox live is a bad service so let's maybe not make this about who has thinner skin
freethoughtbubble
Member
I see today marks the birth of the "The _ word" thread, lol. Not that I'm complaining 
On topic: I was blissfully unaware of how often I said this until a friend of mine pointed it out disapprovingly. He wasn't a dick about it but he did make it clear that he thought it was ignorant on the level of calling something "gay." It didn't take much reflection on my part to realize he was right and I immediately stopped... or tried to.
I hadn't realized how ingrained it was in my speech! Sometimes I literally said it without realizing it, only for this same friend to gently but sternly point it out to me after the fact.
Nowadays, that usage is all but erased from my word bank and I cringe whenever I hear other people say it the way I used to -- but of course I don't judge.
Although I hate the way this concept is sometimes invoked, saying "retard" pejoratively definitely smacks of "punching down" to me. There are tons of less charged words one could use. I don't need to invoke an identifiable group of people who make due with serious cognitive and social challenges through no fault of their own, who get entirely enough shit as it is.
On topic: I was blissfully unaware of how often I said this until a friend of mine pointed it out disapprovingly. He wasn't a dick about it but he did make it clear that he thought it was ignorant on the level of calling something "gay." It didn't take much reflection on my part to realize he was right and I immediately stopped... or tried to.
I hadn't realized how ingrained it was in my speech! Sometimes I literally said it without realizing it, only for this same friend to gently but sternly point it out to me after the fact.
Nowadays, that usage is all but erased from my word bank and I cringe whenever I hear other people say it the way I used to -- but of course I don't judge.
Although I hate the way this concept is sometimes invoked, saying "retard" pejoratively definitely smacks of "punching down" to me. There are tons of less charged words one could use. I don't need to invoke an identifiable group of people who make due with serious cognitive and social challenges through no fault of their own, who get entirely enough shit as it is.
Did you read the OP? The answer to your question is there.
My brother is retarded. Saying retarded isn't offensive. People don't mean anything bad by it. I think people who make a big deal about the word are painfully self righteous, and almost seem to belive that if we just used a different word it would magically change the condition. Sorry. It doesn't work that way.
Growing up with a retarded sibling has taught me not to sweat the small stuff.
Growing up with a retarded sibling has taught me not to sweat the small stuff.
The Illiterati
Member
I still have to say I don't completely get it. First off, I am coming from a place where I would never use the word "retarded", "stupid", or "idiot" towards a person who actually has IDD(thanks for introducing me to that term BTW). I'm more likely to use any or all of those terms interchangeably and equally towards ideas or actions. Now on one hand I can see how someone can take offense at their use, but I don't understand the singling out of "retarded". In any case, I appreciate your viewpoint.
Knuckle Sandwich
Member
I used to say it all the time as a kid until I actually met a family member with an intellectual disability. I felt like a real shithead.
You're either ignorant or trolling. The word "retarded" is and always has been used to either directly or indirectly mock the mentally disabled. Everyone knows it, it's just been so ingrained in our culture that no one cares, and it certainly doesn't help that the ones being mocked don't have as loud a public voice as other minority groups.
No it isn't. It's a clueless one. The issue is extremely simple - it's a derogatory term for people dealt a bad hand in life. It furthers a stigma that they are lesser and inferior to everyone else. Why use it? Why not just use a different word, one that doesn't target actual people?
AuthenticM
Member
In what part of Gaf do you hang? I've been here for years, I browse daily to an unhealthy degree, and I could count the number of times I saw that word on my hands. And every time, that user was swiftly banned.
In any case, yeah, I don't use it.
Joyful
Member
pretty sure op is satire
I wish I was.
Google "euphemism treadmil".
In 20 years, people will say the phrase "disabled" is offensive.
Is that the M word? Everything is the " " word, like a boogeyman that will come out if you say it... pet peeve of seeing words be marginalized and referred to as if we were all in elementary school.
OT, retarded in that context just like gay is to other contexts is going to be impossible to phase out from the generation that grew up around it I think regardless of offensiveness.
DizzyCaffeine
Member
It's a word I used frequently while growing up in the 90's, but now I almost never use it. It's hurtful to a lot of people, so I'll just use something else instead.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Maybe we should start a thread about what words we can say? Probably a pretty short list.
NoblesseOblige
Banned
I'm ashamed to admit but this word was the most difficult one for me to eliminate from my vocabulary when referring to something I disliked. I wasn't successful until I began to working IT in K-12 in which my main office shared building with the special education/needs department.
I'm not talking about what may or may not be the case in 20 years, I'm talking about today, and today it's a term used to mock the disabled. There are plenty of other words you can use to express whatever you want to express.
Wasn't saying the r-word bannable for a time on GAF? When did it change?
In English, there one way to make an adjective out of a noun is by adding -ed to the end of it.
- The one-armed man. The man having one arm.
- The black-haired woman. The woman having black hair.
etc.
I don't really understand why people shortening 'the Intellectual and Developmental-Disabled person to just disabled person is so negative. I'm not trying to give you shit or start anything, I'm just really curious why so much is considered offensive that would be acceptable to other groups with disabitlies and handicaps.
I do not know how it is to live with a person that has an IDD, but do remember when the doctor informed us that our daughter might have Downs before she was born. A lot of thought and concern went into how to proceed, what the best course of action was and how to ensure that we would be able to provide everything that would be required.
You spelled out IDD as Intellectual and Developmental Disablities.Handicapped is also a negative word. Mentally disabled is also not the best as people with IDD are not disabled. They can still function.
MHMRA of Houston, Texas is the biggest Mental Health and Mental Retardation Association in the Houston area. They recently changed their company to IDD instead of Mental Retardation.
Old:
New:
In English, there one way to make an adjective out of a noun is by adding -ed to the end of it.
- The one-armed man. The man having one arm.
- The black-haired woman. The woman having black hair.
etc.
I don't really understand why people shortening 'the Intellectual and Developmental-Disabled person to just disabled person is so negative. I'm not trying to give you shit or start anything, I'm just really curious why so much is considered offensive that would be acceptable to other groups with disabitlies and handicaps.
I do not know how it is to live with a person that has an IDD, but do remember when the doctor informed us that our daughter might have Downs before she was born. A lot of thought and concern went into how to proceed, what the best course of action was and how to ensure that we would be able to provide everything that would be required.
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