Wikepedia states
“Much like today’s socially acceptable terms idiot and moron, which are also defined as some sort of mental disability, when the term retard is being used in its pejorative form, it is usually not being directed at people with mental disabilities. Instead, people use the term when teasing their friends or as a general insult.”
Is it only a slur if directed at soneone with mental disabilities? Is it a slur if durected at onself?
Whats lemmies take on this?
Yes, it is a slur.
Is idiot or moron a slur?
Slurs work like a treadmill. Technical terms start being used as slurs (“moron” and “idiot” are examples) and are replaced by new, neutral words, and the cycle begins again. We’ve had a few decades of “special” being used as a euphemism for mental disability, and that word is on its way to becoming a slur (in certain contexts, it can be used unambiguously as one).
But moron and idiot both come from simmillar backgrounds as retarted why is only retarded a slur and not the others?
They are slurs, but there’s so much distance between today and the original medical usage of these terms that people have forgotten. Both are still terms with a history based in describing someone with an intellectual or developmental disability
So hows retard any different?
Time.
Idiot is 14c Moron 1922 Retard 1950-1960
So all 3 are ages ago moron and retard are very simmillar why is it acceptabpe to say moron and not retard?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/retard https://www.etymonline.com/word/moron https://www.etymonline.com/word/idiot
Words like moron and idiot can be used as generalized insult. They can be offensive, but it doesn’t refer to a certain person or people. Moron and idiot are both defined as being stupid and stupid is defined of lack of intelligence or common sense. The word “retard” refers to people that have mental retardations. The individual person can control being stupid, but they can’t control being mentally retarded.
Welp ur half right here is what doctor duck duck go says :
moron /môr′ŏn″/
noun
A person who is considered foolish or stupid.
A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
idiot /ĭd′ē-ət/
noun
A person who is considered foolish or stupid.
A person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years and generally unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
I’ll take half right
But ull still give me a downvote for copy pasting the actuall definition cos u where incapable of fact checking urself.
Welp seems we can also use ur argument for retard as well, so not only are you half wrong you argument proves me full right.
retard
noun
Retardation; delay. Similar: retardation delay
A mentally retarded person.
A person who is stupid or inept, especially in social situations.
Whoa whoa whoa. Slowdown. I didn’t downvote you. I actually forgot to vote at all
And you’re insinuating that I’m a retard because I downvoted you? Take a day from lemmy friend. We all get worked up and I believe you’re worked up
Well if it wasnt u then i guess poor timing didnt bother to check so guess im retarded if anyone is. And no i was simply showing that your argument for why the other words are fine applies equally to “retard”.
I think you may be misunderstanding your “victory” here. I suppose that’s pretty contextual, when it comes down to it.
Yes it’s a slur. Slurs work like this: “You are like {minority group} and {minority group} is bad so you are bad.” It’s an insult to the individual addressed and an entire group of people at the same time.
Except that with “retard” and quite a few others, there are genuine traits that are undesirable to most people, thus the constant cycling of terms. Technical terms come in to general and pejorative use, then new technical terms come in to be less pejorative. This the terms more and more vaguely refer to the condition when referencing actual mentally handicapped people.
idiotmoroncretinretard(from ‘[profound] mental retardation’)All technical or health terms that have been cycled into being slurs in common use. Some more terms that have made their way into pejorative use:
Handicapped(not so much pejoratively used, but being cycled out anyways)SpecialDifferently AbledI’m sure any new technical terms that are used will be picked up for pejorative use soon enough. But “mentally retarded” was and is an apt description, it’s just not socially acceptable anymore because of it’s ease of use as an insult, and the concomitant public view and usage of the word.
Agreed, but I have a hard time reconciling “idiot” and “moron” being acceptable but not this. They’re basically used as synonyms
Retard is more recently used, and is still being cycled out.
But for a brief miment in history (2016-2020) the retards were in majority in a country named the USA, making the ‘retard’ comeback.
Yes, do not use it.
Language is naturally evolving and changing. I used to use it before because there was a legit biological/ medical/ psychiatrical usage of it (short for “retarded mental growth”). Now, that legitness got buried in the common hate speech we knew today.
To avoid confusion, better just let it go. OR, use it only in convo with a group of med- /bio- nerds.
I take slight issue with every demand to not use a specific word. I think the better advice here would be to simply suggest not calling people names to begin with. It’s not what you call them that’s the issue, but rather the intention to offend in the first place.
fair point, and I totally agree. calling people names they do not consent is crossing the line.
in the medical side of reality, the target of this is never the person but the situation or the problem in question.
for the other side, the target is never clear and would mostly cause confusion.
Yes, it’s explicitly made to compare to people with developmental disorders who are even to this day bullied with this word. Don’t use it.
Slurs should not be excusable when directed at oneself.
For example, if you were to say “I am a retard” in front of someone with a disability, who may have been labeled as such throughout their life, how do you imagine they would feel about that?
Disagreed. As a certified lifelong retard with the papers to back it up medically, I will never relinquish my right to refer to myself however I want. If someone else takes offense, it’s 100% on them.
Remember, offense is always taken, never given.
proudly proclaiming that you use slurs… doesn’t mean it’s not a slur
Exactly. Responsibility always lies with the recipient, you cant blame me for punching your face, its your pain. I didnt rape you, you got yourself raped.
Lol equating words with physical actions. Guess us retards are in good company here. Have a seat.
While you may have the right to call yourself what you want, you shouldn’t use it in an “us” context. At least I wouldn’t be okay with it.
Remember, offense is always taken, never given.
If you believe this idiot semantic nonsense then you really are a retard.
It’s a slur now. Before it was an insult.
One day redneck and hillbilly will be considered slurs too. Mark my words.
Redneck should be a mark of pride if you know it’s origins.
Lookup “Battle of Blair Mountain”
So, actually in the south the term was ‘retargeted’ by the (sub) - urban elite to mean yeoman farmers who worked the fields and had suntan on their necks.
I respect the original term, but the colloquial has reverted to ‘ignorant, racist southerner’, for good or ill.
If you have a better term for it I’m all ears, but it’s not like there isn’t a need for a category given their behavior.
One day redneck and hillbilly will be considered slurs too. Mark my words.
They already are
Once again, I am proven correct!
How did that happen? If it began as an insult how did it morph into a slur? I hate how the alt right goes on about wokism but it seems they have a point.
They changed the underlying medical term, ‘mental retardation’ to ‘developmentally disabled’ in a form of lingual whack-a-mole since the old term was being used as an insult.
Once it lost its meaning as a short form of the medical term, it became a slur, much like we don’t call black people the n-word anymore.
But a black man still has the right to use the N word, and they do. Why can’t I use the word retarded? I’m fucking retarded. Why can’t I say retarded?
It is always a slur, even directed to someone mentally healthy, because it reinforces ableist and hateful stereotypes.
The same way calling men and boys female slurs like bitch or pussy is mysogonistic and puts women down.
You don’t call a person a “retard” in a complimentary way. You compare them to a mentally disabled person to convey how dumb or stupid they are. Putting other people down at the same time.
As someone on the autism spectrum, I don’t mind using it or hearing people use it at all, as long as it’s being used as a synonym for “dumb” and not being used to specifically disparage someone with a disability. Just like “idiot”, words evolve over time from being specific words to refer to disabilities to just general words for someone being a dumbass.
Dumb is also to describe someone who is disabled. Like yourself, I’m ASD, and don’t really mind it, as long as it’s not being used in a nasty way.
Idiot I didn’t realise, thanks for the education.
Yes, it’s a slur. Especially outside of the US (where mental conditions are less overtly stigmatised).
Supposedly it’s being “reclaimed” by the alt-right on Twitter. But obvously don’t listen to the alt-right’s views on social progressiveness.
Also, don’t call yourself “retarded”, you’re better than that. <3
Edit: I’m in the UK, and I find this list useful to figure out what’s offensive and what isn’t: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-standards/offensive-language
Supposedly it’s being “reclaimed” by the alt-right on Twitter.
omg I would love to see some examples! is it like when they claimed that, “We are all domestic terrorists”? I would pee my g-string if I saw that they seriously said, “We are all re******” 😆
I don’t have any examples, sadly - I’m basing this on what some people on Bluesky have been saying.
Reading your comments ITT it’s obvious you’re bringing no good faith here. Not sure why so many people are letting you off the hook
Good faith doesnt imply neutrality. It simply implies civility and an agreement to engage in civil competition in the marketplace of ideas.
You’re pretending to really want to know what the consensus is, but in fact you know what it is and just want to argue against that. Good faith means you’re honest about your intentions whereas you aren’t
Im not pretending i want a consensus. Im here for the discussion so we can all talk out our sides and see where we come to. And if we where to only include the opinions of the retards themselves (those brave enough to identify themselves in this comment thread) then the consensus would be that its fine to say it.
if we where to only include the opinions of the retards themselves (those brave enough to identify themselves in this comment thread)
I saw you make that claim and doubted it but when I gave you the benefit of doubt and read the entire thread, I found one person claiming to be this and two autistic people. I’ve never ever heard this word used for them unless in an extremely derogatory manner. No doctor would’ve ever said that except before autism was a term and they only did it then out of confusion.
Your comments in this thread kind of say it all. Others should pay more attention to them.
We have shifted from using MR (mentally retarded) to using ID (intellectual disability). Even before that change, we tended to say MR instead of retarded, i guess because of the way it gets thrown around negatively and feels uncomfortable to say. Similarly, people are using autistic negatively to describe someone who’s quirky or introverted, narrowing what’s seen as ‘normal’. If you have to ask if it’s ok to say something, other people will probably have a gut reaction to you if you say it. Whether that matters is up to you.
In my state all state run sites they use the terms LMHA (local mental health authorities) and LBHA (local behavioral health authorities). But a large majority of the local offices call themselves <County Name> MHMR (mental health mental retardation).
All the laws and support systems use the term IDD (intellectual or developmental disability). And you’d be hard pressed to find any county that actually lists the full name for their MHMR office. So it seems like they are trying to phase it out. In the meantime it just makes things confusing.
Yes, but, like any language, it can be used in different contexts and with different effects.
You can’t expect a mod to understand context of content they are moderating!
It actually is not, but it’s made into a slur.
That’s to say there are legitimate uses of the word. Most other slurs have the one meaning.
Dictionary definition for a slur is: an insulting or disparaging remark or innuendo
Calling someone a retard definitely aint a compliment and even when used jokingly among friends, the meaning of the word itself still remains the same. I think everyone agrees that the n-word is a slur too despite black people calling eachother that without the intention to offend and no offence being taken. By this definition, I’d say retard counts as a slur too.
However, if someone takes issue with the word retard but doesn’t mind the use of words moron, idiot or imbecille, then they’re just being a hypocrite.
So idiot, moron, cunt, fucker, bitch, slut, dick, cock, dickhead cockhead, cunthead, fuckhead, bitchface, shit, shithead, shitface etc etc
Are all slurs by the dictionary definition?
Fuck the people that pick and choose the words they get upset about. People happily useing the n-word and then getting insulted 10mins later when the r-word is mentioned are the worst.
Lol show me any example of some one using the n word then getting mad about the r word
