The term "Retard"

  1. Kami
    Kami
    How do you feel about it being used as an insult?
  2. ÑóẊîöʼn
    I admit I like using it, but not that often. It loses it's force if it's used too much.
  3. Jazzratt
    Jazzratt
    I generally prefer spack, but retard is a mighty fine word. I'm not really offended by it.
  4. Dean
    Dean
    When I started working with the mentally challenged, I became uneasy when people used the term antagonistically. I don't use it to be very insulting nowadays, just to flirt.
  5. Kami
    Kami
    I don't use it to be very insulting nowadays, just to flirt.
    I must say, I'm curious as to how exactly that works :/
  6. Luís Henrique
    Luís Henrique
    I really can't fathom this bullshit. It is a less polite synonym for "unintelligent". Should we feel putatively offended by the word "unintelligent", too? "Think of all unintelligent people and how they would be offended when 'unintelligent' is used as an insult"...?

    LuÃ*s Henrique
  7. Jazzratt
    Jazzratt
    I really can't fathom this bullshit. It is a less polite synonym for "unintelligent". Should we feel putatively offended by the word "unintelligent", too? "Think of all unintelligent people and how they would be offended when 'unintelligent' is used as an insult"...?

    LuÃ*s Henrique
    You're damn right.
  8. Dean
    Dean
    I must say, I'm curious as to how exactly that works :/
    Granted, I am only flirting with one person nowadays, my fiancee...

    I really can't fathom this bullshit. It is a less polite synonym for "unintelligent". Should we feel putatively offended by the word "unintelligent", too? "Think of all unintelligent people and how they would be offended when 'unintelligent' is used as an insult"...?

    LuÃ*s Henrique
    In an acedemic or otherwise non-antagonistic argument, there is no problem with using the term. But I am against insulting people based on intelligence, too. There is very little subjective immorality to lack of intelligence, ignorance, even *****iness. It is important to be sensitive, I think, because certain uncontrollable traits are looked down upon by society. I can honestly say that I feel uncomfortable when others are called ugly, just as my fiancee is uncomfortable when peopl emake fat jokes, about her or not. Such things just reinforce very negative social stigmatizations.
  9. The Intransigent Faction
    The Intransigent Faction
    There was a time where I absolutely hated using or hearing it at all. Has a lot to do with personal experiences I won't get into.
    In any case, I don't freak out so much these days when I hear it, possibly because I've heard what could be far worse.
    I don't really use it personally, though. Not out of a concern for politeness or the sting of the word or anything...just not the particular term I tend to use out of habit, I guess.
  10. INDK
    INDK
    I really can't fathom this bullshit. It is a less polite synonym for "unintelligent". Should we feel putatively offended by the word "unintelligent", too? "Think of all unintelligent people and how they would be offended when 'unintelligent' is used as an insult"...?

    LuÃ*s Henrique
    While I'm not offended by the word and admit to using it insultingly in the place of 'unintelligent', I believe retard is more defined as a deterrence or delay (for example,"This recent stock crash will retard the American economy in some ways"), and in our context a mental deterrence, so basically a delay in the intelligence of a person = retardation. This is based on the definition provided here:
    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/retard][/url] -

    1. to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
    –verb (used without object)
    2. to be delayed.
    –noun
    3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine
    So wouldn't saying retard actually mean the inherent mental 'retardations', as in deterrences, and actually be by defintion offensive?

    Again, I'm not offended by it and do say it, but only because I believe that words are only words and if they have developed as slang for something I will most likely end using it, like the rest of us. I mean, it's context, however (just like what I said in the debate on the word '****' in the general forum) -- if I was to call a person who was actually severely mentally retarded a retard I can see it being taken much less lightly.
  11. Rascolnikova
    Rascolnikova
    I think it's in poor taste, but not a huge deal. It mostly signifies someone unable to come up with more imaginative insults.
  12. ÑóẊîöʼn
    ÑóẊîöʼn
    For some reason, people seem to mispell the words as "retart" or "retarted", which I find utterly hilarious, especially if they're calling someone else retarded.
  13. The Intransigent Faction
    The Intransigent Faction
    Yeah, I find it more annoying than hilarious after the 1000th time reading that, but I know what you mean.
  14. dez
    dez
    i find the usage of schyzophrenic to be worse as an insult