Yes I fucking realize it, my brother is about as mentally disabled as you can get so don’t talk down to me as if I’m ignoring the implications of the word when I’ve had to deal with that shit being thrown at my little brother his whole life. I realize the implications, I’m just not going to get up in arms over the casual out of context usage of a word like that.
Now if he was purposely insulting handicapped people it would be something to get angry about, but he wasn’t. This is like 12 year olds calling people “fags” on Call of Duty. It happens, it happens a lot. It’s not right but it happens and there’s no point in getting angry about it because it’s NOTgoing to fall out of common usage any time soon.
I’m done spamming my blog with this argument.
And, just for the record. He was right.
retard
verb past tense: retarded; past participle: retarded rɪˈtɑːd/
- delay or hold back in terms of progress or development. “his progress was retarded by his limp”
To “retard” something is to hold back progress. Just like the PS4 and Xbone are doing in terms of advancement in the video game industry by releasing with hardware that is beaten by stuff released 4-5 years ago for the PC. So in that context “to retard” was actually correct usage of the word.
re·tard·ed riˈtärdid/ adjective adjective: retarded
- less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one’s age.
- informaloffensive very foolish or stupid. "in retrospect, it was a totally retarded idea"
Huh, I see nothing here about it revolving around those with disabilities. Simply degrees of advancement for the formal definition.
Dictionary definitions are meant to be fairly shorthand and don’t take into account the importance of context. (I also have a giant rant about people pretending that dictionaries are infallible sources of unbiased information, but I will save it for another time.) Just because the dictionary doesn’t mention its usage as a slur against disabled people doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. While there are alternate usages, its use as a slur is incredibly common.
It is a word that is frequently used to hurt and belittle people. While it’s unrealistic to assume that it will disappear completely from the English lexicon anytime soon, that’s no excuse to use the word when there are so many non-offensive alternatives available (ridiculous, asinine, delayed, slowed, etc). Of course, the act of restricting the word in one’s own vocabulary has little impact. But the more people that acknowledge its context and refuse to use the word, the less acceptable it becomes in everyday speech.
Yeah, sure, this jontron person (no idea who he is nor the context in which he said the word) is free to use the word as he pleases. And I am also free to call him a giant douche for defending its use.
In actuality, it will be near impossible to be rid of the word “retard” as its shared in another word. So, would this intent of obsoletion apply to “retardant” and its different definition given its base being “retard?”
Also, note that social norms keep tossing around what becomes offensive. Retard was okay until perception showed it as offensive so “special” came into play, and now that’s offensive.
hey, if we are going to disregard the dictionary completely, why don’t we use any word for anything?
Two sly famish rectum walk night forty two.