Yep, also “dumb”, " lame " etc. These are words for disabilities which then entered common parlance as slurs.
“retarded” is actually the other way round in that it just means “slowed” - but has historically been used as an insult directed towards people with mental disabilities.
Personally I think that what’s offensive is scolding people for using the word in the correct context which prevents society from losing the association with the disabled and instead continues perpetuating that meaning even though that’s the opposite of what they claim to be trying to do
“Retarded” definitely didn’t start out as an insult. There was a time when “mentally retarded” was what people with developmental disabilities were called by the medical establishment. My Boomer mother still uses it without malice (and is scolded by my Gen Z kids) to refer to those with cognitive disabilities because it wasn’t an insult when she was a kid. It was fully an insult when my Gen X self was growing up.
I think there may be too much white knighting for a word that no one seriously uses any more. “You can’t use that word because in the past it was a designation for the cognitively disabled.” But really “retarded” has lost any meaning other than as an insult to mean supremely stupid. It often doesn’t even refer to a person but could be an object or a situation.
Edit (after I thought about it some more): I think ignorant would be best to use here, because stupid is also a slur that offends people for an inherent property, no real difference to retarded. I will edit my initial comment accordingly. Thank you for the heads up.
I just noticed your username and it made me feel so extremely disgusted that I am going to block you, just to never have to read it again, nothing personal though. Also, with such a username you are not in a particularly good position to criticize others for their choice of words imo.
What innocent people are being insulted? The euphemism treadmill has ensured nobody is being legitimately described this way anymore, it is just an insult. Btw, idiot and stupid both used to be the correct medical terms for unusually slow mental development, it’s just a matter of how much time has passed.
The problem with democracy is that most people are ignorant …
edit: changed retarded to ignorant, I apologize to anyone who felt offended by my use of the term.
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Apologies, I am not a native speaker, what adjective would you propose instead?
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Aren’t ‘stupid’ and ‘idiot’ just even older versions of ‘retarded’ and all describe people with developmental and/or learning disabilities?
Yep, also “dumb”, " lame " etc. These are words for disabilities which then entered common parlance as slurs.
“retarded” is actually the other way round in that it just means “slowed” - but has historically been used as an insult directed towards people with mental disabilities.
Personally I think that what’s offensive is scolding people for using the word in the correct context which prevents society from losing the association with the disabled and instead continues perpetuating that meaning even though that’s the opposite of what they claim to be trying to do
“Retarded” definitely didn’t start out as an insult. There was a time when “mentally retarded” was what people with developmental disabilities were called by the medical establishment. My Boomer mother still uses it without malice (and is scolded by my Gen Z kids) to refer to those with cognitive disabilities because it wasn’t an insult when she was a kid. It was fully an insult when my Gen X self was growing up.
I think there may be too much white knighting for a word that no one seriously uses any more. “You can’t use that word because in the past it was a designation for the cognitively disabled.” But really “retarded” has lost any meaning other than as an insult to mean supremely stupid. It often doesn’t even refer to a person but could be an object or a situation.
Completely agree, by “other way round” in my comment I meant it didn’t originally mean disabled not that it started as an insult
Idiot is not. It comes from a Greek word for someone who doesn’t pay attention to politics.
A little bit of both, apparently.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot
If this is correct, then it started out as a word for private citizen and then evolved in Greek to mean ignorant.
Then in the 19th Century was coined as a medical term.
Edit (after I thought about it some more): I think ignorant would be best to use here, because stupid is also a slur that offends people for an inherent property, no real difference to retarded. I will edit my initial comment accordingly. Thank you for the heads up.
I just noticed your username and it made me feel so extremely disgusted that I am going to block you, just to never have to read it again, nothing personal though. Also, with such a username you are not in a particularly good position to criticize others for their choice of words imo.
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Arrr…
What innocent people are being insulted? The euphemism treadmill has ensured nobody is being legitimately described this way anymore, it is just an insult. Btw, idiot and stupid both used to be the correct medical terms for unusually slow mental development, it’s just a matter of how much time has passed.
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How retarded.
That because you retarded too