“Retard” is the perfect length for an insult and lends itself very well for emphasis. It rolls off the tongue in anger or disgust very well. Like with most insults, nobody even thinks about what it actually means (see: “motherfucker”, “dumbass”, etc) any more.
Furthermore, nobody calls the intellectually disabled “retards”, and “retarded” is also quite rare now as is “mental retardation”. So “retard” is perfect for repurposing as a general purpose insult. People who get up in arms about this are basically saying that the mentally handicapped are retards, which they are not, a “retard” is NOW your dumb friend who you are making fun of, and not an intellectually disabled person you never met.
Get angry about something else. Removing the slur from the intellectually disabled is a good thing.
For perspective, quite a few words we use to describe generally stupid people of no particular specification like moron, imbecille, simpleton, etc. also used to have a medical definition, and now they don’t. Nobody is offended by these anymore.
Give it a hundred years.
Removed by mod
Wrong community, this is for discourse and not attacks.
oh yeah well who are you to say so huh
just kidding im a proud sidebar checker
rara avis
sum scortum obscenum vile
edit that means you can consider me your secret manly love
op what is your opinion on the n word
Still widely used in its original pejorative meaning or close to it (soft R), not appropriate as a general slur.
iabt
i get called retarded a lot and im pretty sure when people say that to me they really think my iq is under 70 so i vote we keep the logic consistent and only people with an intellectual disability get to say it
