Poll: use of the word 'retarded'

[The Immortal]

I don't take it personally, though I might if I had someone in my family who is mentally handicapped, though for the most part my relatives are all pretty healthy. Though I don't like the use of the word because of my future little stepbrother, who uses it about ten-thousand times a day. I just want to punch him in the face sometimes.

 

[VoleurdeThym]

I get kinda touchy about it.. I have some unreasonable fear that all the children I will ever bare will turn out 'imperfect'. So, my reason is mostly irrational.

Still fucked up though, and I just don't say it.

 

[Erana]

People who chose the bottom two options obviously know no family members of retarded people.

It is not okay.

They do, its just too many people lack the basic level of empathy needed to care.

Its this disturbing attitude of "they are just words, nobody really cares, people take it too seriously, your just being overly PC about everything." I hate to say it but too many people today are able to shrug off anything and because they are thick skinned to that extent think that nothing they say or do in this regard should really have a major consequence.

You're right....
I remember being in 6th grade and that happening. The kids were hanging around being a gaggle of fools, and saying things were retarded. One of the school staff, who had a retarded son, got very upset at this, and they kept pushing it, anyway. I called them a bunch of insensitive jerks, and proceeded to schold them for being so.
Because of my educational situation, they constituted a good half of the school, and proceed to make me ostracized by most of the other half for a week or two after.
Apparently, it wasn't just that I called them insensitive jerks, it was also that I hadn't used profanity when doing so.

.... Safe to say, I didn't exactly fit in.

 

[VoleurdeThym]

.... Safe to say, I didn't exactly fit in.

Compared to what you just described, that's a good thing.

 

[JWAN]

Yes. Retarded has become a staple in the vocabularies of so many of the students at my high school, and I get so sick of it when every other word someone says is retard or some form of it.

A+
thank you, please share with the rest of the class.

 

[un533n]

re·tard 1
(r-tärd)
v. re·tard·ed, re·tard·ing, re·tards v.tr.
To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede. v.intr.
To be delayed. n.
1. A slowing down or hindering of progress; a delay.
2. Music A slackening of tempo.
3. Used as a disparaging term for a mentally retarded person.
4. [Pejorative] A person considered to be foolish or socially inept.

Hmm.. 1/4 definitions say it's an insult. Which means at least 3/4s of the time its use is abuse of the word.

1. I think your car is retarded.
2. This song is retarded.
3. That guy with the helmet is retarded.
4. You're retarded.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

I don't take it seriously, it's kinda like how gay has become an insult. Like "Dude, that is so gay" when getting some form of punishment, it doesn't mean the full implication of the word, so with retarded it's not saying "You are mentally handicapped" it's just another way of calling someone stupid.

 

[Elexia]

Where i come from, a common alternative word for 'retarded' is 'minda' (min-dah). It makes for an interchange of words when one feels the original word has been used to death.

Yes, both words are probably beyond political correctness but no one but politicians begging for votes care about that these days.

 

[The Great Fa]

I do not have a poor vocabulary.

All last summer I worked with a physically handicapped seven year old at the daycare where I work and I think he's just awesome. I hope I get to see and play with him again next summer.

When something is retarded, I describe it as such. No, I don't use it to describe people, but when I say "This is gay/retarded", everyone around me knows immediately how I feel about the scenario at hand and I don't have to use any more than three syllables to convey said sentiment. They're just words for goodness' sake. Do they have some negative associations with certain minorities? Yes. Should anyone, even the minorities being referenced, care? I really don't see why we (or they) should?

 

[ZP---Fanatic]

Well WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL I Remember Some Kid Sayin' Thats Retarded To Anything

I Wished He Would Just Die,At Least Then It Would've Ended Until 3 Years Later He's Still Sayin It

 

[Marbas]

Honestly, no. There's no point to being politically correct about retardation. It's an inherently negative thing. It's not really comparable to being black or gay. You know what used to be specific technical terms? Moron, Idiot, Feebleminded, etc. The terms used to describe the retarded INEVITABLY become pejorative because they are pejorative by DEFINITION. A friend of mine once saw a bunch of kids walk up to the short bus. You know what they did? They pointed and laughed and screamed "SPECIAL NEEDS! SPECIAL NEEDS!"

 

[Iron Mal]

Like any insult (or what is considered as an insult) it can easily be overused which leads to some people getting sick of hearing it all the time (kind of like calling someone gay or a n00b, it's not exactly that ground breaking or deep cutting anymore).

If the topic is whether it's offensive to the mentalally/physically/emotionally/socially challanged, they'll probably find it offensive, granted, but as Marbas rightly said, being retarded/a spastic is in fact a negetive thing.

Just sugar-coating the issue with phrases like 'mentally disadvantaged' or 'special needs' doesn't detract from the fact that compared to most other people they are in fact inferior in one way or another (as much as I don't want to admit this, it must be said that all men are in fact not born equal).

 

[BlueMage]

Nope, and I use it fairly frequently - it accurately describes the thinking process of a large number of the great unwashed. That is to say, their mental grwoth is stunted at some level of immaturity and as such they cannot function adequately.

 

[Honkifyoulovepeaceandquiet]

I definitely chuckled at that. Best part is that there is usually just a small group of people determining what the forbidden words are for the rest of us.

Amen to that.

I use retarded to describe anything that is functionally inhibited for any reason.
Not to say most of my uses of the word are P.C., but you have to draw the line somewhere.
BTW I tried to explain this to my wife and she told me I was liguistically retarded for not being able to use a more clever turn of phrase than "that is retarded."

So now I just say "That is Jewish"
My wife is Jewish. I love her so much.

 

[PureChaos]

Do you mean animate object. Inanimate objects do not moves ie trees and rocks. If you do have a problem with using retarded to describe curtains and swingsets and are ok with me using it on people please explain.

someone mentioned earlier it annoys them when people say stuff like 'this essay is retarded', that i agree with but say someone says 'i know what would be a good idea, lets eat glass', that would be retarded.

 

[bulbasaur]

I don't ave a problem with it, as long as its not used to describe somebody who actually has problems. no different from when people use the word fagot, they aren't necessarily saying your gay, just using it as an insult.

I aint got a problem with it as long as people using the word retard are careful where they say it and who its directed at

 

[sirtunic]

Snipped

Oh, and above the post Im quoting you were indeed being very hypocritical. Just because you say your being hypocritical doesn't mean it's ok to be hypocritical.

I don't want to soften the word, I want it to stop being used so superfluously.

 

[sirtunic]

Until everyone realises that being politically correct is for politicians I'll say retard as much as I like. However I get pissed at people saying poop because no matter how much you try to kidify a subject you are still taking about shit and it is not funny or cute. I also hate people that spell lose as loose on the internet. By typing loose you lose all credibility.

Uh, there's nothing cute about the word poop. Poop is poop. If anything, shit was the expanded exaggeration.

 

[Datalord]

I find it sort of funny how people get most offended when you use that term to describe someone who actually is mentally retarded. If its true, so what if i say it, if its not true, i use other words like "moronic" "idiotic" or "imbecile"