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Let's ask this AI app! (mander.xyz)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 34 points 7 months ago (26 children)

I don't understand why this word has come back into common usage

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  • [–] 18 points 7 months ago (10 children)

    I don't understand how people think it's such a big deal anyway. I mean, it's functionally the same thing as calling someone a moron or an idiot or an imbecile, yet I don't know anyone who has any problem with those words. All are obsolete medical terms for intellectually disabled people, used in modern parlance to insult someone's intellect.

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    I was an AuDHD kid in the 90s. That specific word was thrown at me a lot by both adults and my peers, especially because I lose the ability to speak when I'm stressed/overstimulated. I guess it still hurts when I hear it or read it, and going off this thread that's a "me" problem. Definitely regret posting my original comment

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah back in the 90s it was still in use in some diagnostic criteria, even though it was already considered dated then. These days I don't think it's used in a medical capacity anywhere anymore.

    I don't think it's solely a you problem as many people do consider the term too offensive to use, but it is one of those words the jury is divided on, with just as many people using it nonchalantly. I expect over time it'll be no different from moron or idiot.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    Not only has a medical term, it was used in regards to spoilation of food, for instance they might say that they added a toxic preservative to excuse the phrase, Retard the spoilation of the food. Turns out the toxic preservatives are very bad. Who knew? Besides for all of us.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    It is still used to refer to things like fire retardant. To retard (pronounced ruh-tard and not ree-tard) means to slow or restrict the progress of something such as spoilage or fire spreading and is still a word with ligitimate uses, with the outdated 'medical' usage being a reference to a mentally disabled person's slower mental progress.

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  • [–] 18 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Where I'm from people use it frequently, but never about disabled people. They just mean stupid. In that capacity I agree, it's literally the same on every level as idiot, moron, imbecile, feeble-minded, dumb, etc.

    If someone uses the word to refer to a mentally handicapped or disabled person, we're gonna fight. If you call attacking Iran retarded, I agree wholeheartedly.

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    This is the correct way of thinking.

    Anyone trying to sell something different is either a psyop dipshit trying to sew division or a self-rigtheous fart smelling wokescold who was duped by the psyop.

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  • [+] 22 points 7 months ago (4 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [+] -6 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    The venn diagram of people who "don't understand" incredibly easy to understand concepts, and people who wish that there were no words to describe people who "don't understand" incredibly easy to understand concepts.

    ⭕

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  • [–] 21 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    There's describing someone's inability to understand easy concepts and there's using a medical condition in a derogatory manner.

    Similarly, frowning upon the n-slur does not imply that we have no more words for referring to people of color.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Mental retardation hasn't been a widely recognized medical condition for at least 30 years. They started scrubbing the term out of diagnostic criteria in the 90s and I think the last one to use it was officially retired in the 00s.

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  • [+] -1 points 7 months ago (1 child)
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 15 points 7 months ago*

    That is not what I suggested. I compared your logical fallacy to a more extreme example in hopes that you notice how short-sighted your argument was.

    To remind you, your comment implied "If I can't use , how else will I refer to ?".

    There are plenty of other words you can choose from both in place of the r-slur and the n-slur. Arguing that this in any way limits your vocabulary is incredibly narrow-minded.

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    you don't have to use slurs to refer to people actually

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago*

    You're right.

    But, damn near anything that's said with mean intent about a visible minority long enough becomes a slur. So it is something of a game of whack-a-mole that continuously removes words from the language as collateral damage.

    I personally think people should just stop being mean entirely, slurs or not.

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